Magum's Rising
by SkyeHendersen
Summary: After a Homecoming gone wrong, a young woman claims that the demon Magum has the ability to take over the entire multiverse. With this the world is in the state of Weridmageddon again. Now Dipper is trying to unlock a power he had no idea he had, a new wheel is to be formed, and Ford facing his past to embrace the future. The FINAL story in the series!
1. Prologue: Death to the Axolotl

**Prologue: Death to the Axolotl**

 _"_ _AT LAST! AFTER MILLENIA, I HAVE IT! I Magum Cerebrum have it!"_

A tall slender man with pale skin and soulless white eyes wearing a black suit and tie stood in front of a swirling portal of blue energy. His body was tinted blue from the light, and in his hands was small square chip that was covered in blood. As he stared at the chip, his white eyes were tinted blue from the light of energy before him.

 _"_ _Now… to reveal its secrets…"_ He then placed the bloodied chip into a small device, the side of it written in faded yellow writing "Property of B. Bartek". Once the device was booted up a screen lit up, various writings and diagrams showing up on the screen. _"To believe he had hidden it within you, my dear Layla Amelia…"_

The woman in question was lying on the floor, blood trickling from her left temple onto the concrete floor. She had long dark gray hair that was streaked silver, her skin so pale it was as if she was dead, but she wasn't dead as her electric blue eyes fluttered. She writhed in pain as a young woman with dark brown curly hair with wide brown eyes was at her side, desperately trying to stop the wound.

"Mom!" the young woman called out. "Just hang on, I'll get something to close the wound…"

 _"_ _She will be fine, girl!"_ Magum then snapped at the brunette. _"But who knew that Cipher had helped Dr. Bartek with this secret…? I would never have guessed!"_

"What are you talking about, you piece of shit asshole!" the brunette demanded, her brown eyes hard as a tree trunk. "Whatever you're planning-"

 _"_ _You cannot do anything, girl, as for I am going to be ruler of the multiverse!"_ Magum declared as he then went to the portal of energy and placed a hand inside. He darkly chuckled as the portal turned into a dark magenta, the energy swirling a dark red within.

After a moment the room shook, the brunette girl throwing her body over the older woman. Debris fell from the ceiling, chunks of rock hit the brunette on her back, but she ignored the pain as she kept her eyes on her mother.

 _"_ _Magum Cerebrum of the Telepathic Dimension…"_ a bellowing voice echoed in the room. The magenta portal then vibrated as a head poked through, the head a light pink with dark magenta antler-looking things from the side of its head. It fully emerged, its body slender and a long tail. _"You have willingly summoned me after all these years of being on the run from me…?"_

 _"_ _Ah, it's been how many millennia, Axolotl?"_ Magum then purred. _"I figured I would welcome you to my humble abode."_

The large salamander creature floated along towards the demon, its body curling up as if it were a ball. _"Humble…? More like a trap… you had taken Layla and her daughter hostage… All because you are so petty about your life… how you think I wouldn't notice your and Bill Cipher's plan…"_

 _"_ _Ah, Bill Cipher, you still have not found him have you?"_

 _"_ _The Dream Demon no longer has physical or Mindscape form…"_

Magum then looked confused, him putting a hand to his chin. _"And… what do you mean by that? No longer physical or Mindscape…?"_

The Axolotl moved forward, passing the portal and Magum. An image showed in the portal of a young boy, possibly a young teenager, shaking hands with Bill Cipher. The boy's eyes then glowed a golden yellow with a slit of a pupil.

 _"_ _What I mean is that his soul is bounded to that child…"_ the Axolotl explained. _"You may have had many victims that you bounded to their souls, but the bond between Bill Cipher and that child are strong as he is the Pine Tree…"_

If Magum was surprised, he did not show it. _"Pine Tree…?"_ he echoed. The magenta portal then removed the image of the boy and it then showed a scene of an older man with a brown trench coat spraying a circle on the floor, drawing symbols that some of them were identical to ones Magum knew so well. _"Ah… Stanford Pines… He had made it out of the multiverse after all…"_

 _"_ _Yes… a very clever human…"_ the Axolotl agreed. _"They had helped stop Bill Cipher… but Bill Cipher will help stop you through the means of that boy…"_

 _"_ _The soul bounded boy…? He is most likely being driven mad!"_

 _"_ _That may be true… but he is a lot stronger than you may think…"_ The Axolotl then floated towards Magum, its body flying through the air. _"A group of ten shall rise again, although different and vast they shall bring light onto the past. The boy with a strong will and mind with a hat of a tree of pine, a boy part of the destined bloodline. You may think you have won and will rule over all multiverse lives, but are you sure you'll be the one that survives?"_

Magum then threw a ball of fire energy towards the creature, it effortlessly dodging it. _"Bah! I've had enough of your damn riddles, Axolotl! It is time to get what you deserve… you may act all innocent and cheery, but you clearly know what you have done to me!"_ the demon shouted as he threw another fireball. _"I_ will _be superior! I_ will _do what that damn dream demon couldn't do!"_

The Axolotl stopped flying around and stared at Magum with a cocked head. _"What have I done to you, Magum Cerebrum…? You were never good at ciphers… the Cipher clan of the Dream Demons were experts."_ It then floated toward the swirling portal. _"And what did the Cerebrum clan do…? Made an honest living with their ability to tap into the mind and use telekinesis, a double power never seen before in your kind… and yet,_ you _were the inadequate one-"_

 _"_ _ENOUGH!"_ Magum roared as he threw a ball of fire at the portal, the magenta color turning into a crimson red. _"I know your secret you old fool! I know how to destroy you!"_

The Axolotl's normal neutral expression then turned worried, its black eyes looking confused and concerned. _"I am the highest of the Hierarchy of Demons… there is no way-"_

Magum then smiled sinisterly, his smile so wolf-like. _"NOT ANYMORE!"_ He then used his telekinesis to shove the Axolotl into the portal, but half of it was still sticking out. _"I'll tear the very fiber of your being with the portals! You may have access to them, but they are linked to your very life course! All those years ago you were helping Layla and Stanford…!"_

 _"_ _How did you build this!?"_ the Axolotl demanded, finally noticing the complex machine of the portal.

The portal itself was large and vast, oddly the shape of a triangle. Magum had spent years making it after gathering so much information from Dr. Bartek before his demise. All he had been missing was one component, and the deranged doctor had hidden it in his own daughter's skull. According to the research, the portal's energy, for any portal, was linked to the Axolotl's life energy.

 _"_ _A little friend I like to call Dr. Bartholomew Bartek!"_ Magum declared as he then went to the control panel and began typing in certain coordinates, all while the Axolotl stayed in place form Magum's telekinesis. _"All I must do is overload this with you inside, and you would be basically killing yourself as the portal overloads and rip you very fiber of being apart!"_

 _"_ _You may think you have won, Magum Cerebrum, but remember the bloodline of the name of Pine will be the end of you."_

 _"_ _Goodbye, Axolotl!"_ Magum roared as he pulled down a lever, the dark crimson turning black as blue sparks of energy flowed out of the portal. The sparks began to set aflame their surroundings, the brunette girl who had been helplessly sitting their picking up her limp mother and began to drag her away to safety.

The portal's energy swirled around the Axolotl, the pink skin of the creature cracking as dust flowed from the wounds. The creature screamed in agony and pain, its externa gills that were such a dark magenta turned gray and cracked off the sides of its head. The once powerful dark eyes that seemed that could see everything across the universe became a cold gray the skin around the sockets cracked and sagged, causing the eyes to fall out.

Magum then lifted the lever, the machine stopping completely, the body of the once powerful being fell to the ground with a crash, only the front half existing. The telepathic demon then used a hand and punched through the thoracic cavity of the creature, him searching. He then finally pulled out a still slightly beating heart, it a dark red and purple from blood.

 _"_ _Magum… you are… making… a mistake…"_ the Axolotl rasped painfully, blood flowing form its wound. _"You… you cannot handle that kind of power…"_

Magum gave his infamous wolf-like smile. _"I don't give a damn!"_ he roared as he then took a bite from the heart, the blood dribbling down the corners of his mouth. The once pink body of the Axolotl then turned into a soft gray as it went limp.

The demon then opened its eyes, his right eye its normal soulless white while his left was a deep black. He began to laugh almost insanely, his black eye searching the world around him as if hungry for information.

 _"_ _Yes… YES! The power is surging through me!"_ Magum laughed. He then snapped his fingers and portals began opening, large creatures with silver pelts and red fangs appearing out of them. _"Now… off to the Earth dimension…! Bring me the child that is bounded to Bill Cipher!"_ With a snap of his fingers the monsters bowed and began to go through the portals that Magum had created, him finally having access to every multiverse dimension.

The brunette girl managed to drag her mother's body out of the room to head to the quarters that they shared. She sat her mother upright next to the bed, her mother's electric blue eyes looking dull. The young woman found bandages and wrapped her mother's dark gray hair and stopped the blood from flowing.

"Mom…" the girl whispered. "I have to help that boy… I have to go…"

"Annie… wait…!" her mother rasped. "You can't go… if _he_ finds out…!"

Annie then placed a finger over her mother's lips. "Mom… I'm going to find Dad… he'll help," she promised. "I'll be back soon, Mom… I love you." She then grabbed her long black coat, her gloves, and her sidearm that she had hidden from Magum all these years. Before she left through the quarters doors, she absently went to the pendant that hung around her neck, a small white crystal that seemed to glow. Annie then hid it under her shirt and put on a pair of goggles and wrapped a scarf around her head.

"Annie!"

Annie gave her mother one last look before giving a wave. She then ran through the door, her trying to find the nearest portal. She found one as a monster began to go through, her jumping onto its back as they both tumbled through. Her body felt as if it were being pulled apart as the energy swirled around her, and soon she found herself crashing onto some shiny floor that was covered in shattered class and random bits of colored paper.

Those monsters were all around, stepping out of portals left and right. She saw a group of about six people about twenty feet in front of her, one trying to find something at their side but nothing was there apparently. There was a curse as the man dodged a swipe from a monster, and it looked as though it was about to take a swipe at him. Annie then grabbed the sidearm that she had cleverly taken and aimed expertly at the monster and pulled the trigger.

A plasma blast erupted from the barrel of her gun and zipped passed the other patrons and hit the monster. The monster roared in pain as it looked at her with menacing eyes. The group of people then turned and saw her for the first time. One girl looked as though they had the same hair as hers, brown and curly, and then there was the boy from what the Axolotl had said.

"WATCH OUT!" she screamed as she aimed the gun in direction of the boy. They all turned and saw him get grabbed by the monster, him screaming and trying desperately to get free as she shot expertly trying to help him. The man she had saved from before ran forward, along with another man, and tried to grab the boy's outstretched hand as he begged for help.

The boy and monster went through the portal, it closing just as the men crashed into the ground. Lights flickers back on and Annie saw that she was on some kind of glossy wooden floor, something she had never seen before.

The girl with brown curly hair wore a very pretty pink dress, her running toward the spot where the boy had stood moments before. "DIPPER!" she screamed in horror. "NO! BRING HIM BACK! BRING HIM BACK! HE'S MY TWIN BROTHER! BRING HIM BACK!" she wailed as a boy with dark blonde hair approached her and crouched next to her.

The man that she had saved then spun around, his brown eyes hard with anger behind glasses. "YOU!" he furiously shouted. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! WHERE WAS DIPPER TAKEN!?"

Annie then began to unravel the scarf she disguised herself with, and she took off her goggles. She had dark brown curly hair, it long and about waist length with a little tuft of hair in the back. She had brown eyes that her mother had always said reminded her of chocolate, whatever that was, and she had a pink upturned nose and rosy cheeks with freckles splashed on them.

The man gave her an odd look, as if he recognized her. It was as if he had seen a ghost, him looking closely at her facial features.

"I don't know where he was specifically taken," she explained as she put her gun back in her holster. "But I do know that Magum wants him for some reason." It was her turn to study the man in front of her, him having brown eyes with glasses and him wearing a suit. His hair was a dark gray with a streak of light gray around his head. He had a somewhat large pinkish nose, a cleft chin, and he had left a light stubble from shaving. A man that was standing near the crying brunette girl looked nearly identical to him, except wearing some kind of red cylinder on his head. But what really caught her eyes was that the man before her had six fingers on each hand.

 _Just like me…!_

"MAGUM!?" the man roared. He looked as though he was going to explode, but he forced himself to calm down as he forced himself to look at her closely again. "Are… are you…" he began slowly. "Are you… related to someone named…? Layla Bartek?"

 _Mom! He knew my mom…! That must mean…_

"I am her daughter," Annie replied with a small smile, her heart filled with a sudden happiness that she was seeing the man that was her father before her. She then took off her one glove, showing that she too had six fingers, and she held it up.

"And I'm yours too."

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh boy! A new and FINAL story to this series! For those who had guessed that Layla would have a kid, congrats! You earn a cookie! But... I'm all out of cookies...

Thank you all for support and understanding when I take certain hiatuses because of personal reasons! You are all the reason why I keep writing these! "Cipher's Reign" was meant to be a one-shot, but after so many people liked it I had to continue!

Thanks for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	2. The Necklace's Message

**Chapter 1: The Necklace's Message**

No words described what Ford felt the moment that young woman uttered those words to him, her holding up a hand that had had six fingers.

There was no time to explain at that moment, they had to leave the school and head to the Shack immediately. No questions were asked as they all jumped in Stanley's old El Diablo, including the woman who looked as though she had never been in a vehicle in her entire life, and sped off to 618 Gopher Road.

Once inside the Shack Ford had pressed a button on his watch that he wore and metal screens then closed over the windows and doors, sealing them all inside. Despite what had just happened with Dipper being taken once again, Ford had to get answers from the girl, as she did state that she knew Magum wanted him for something. Without another word as he walked through to the gift shop to get to the vending machine door that led to his lab he had gestured to Stan and the woman for them to follow.

The woman was reluctant on following, but with a reassuring gesture form Stan she followed eagerly.

 _How can he be so calm about this!?_ Ford frantically thought. _He doesn't understand the situation at hand…! Magum is the master of manipulation and illusion, I saw her dead body… there is no way…!_

The three went inside the corridor that lead to the stairwell. Footsteps echoed as they descended the stairs, the girl putting her hand on the wall to feel its texture. Her brown eyes were bright and observant, her taking on every last detail around her.

 _This is impossible… she has to be some kind of illusion… If Magum is powerful enough to get to our dimension without the use of an interdimensional portal, then he has to be powerful enough to manipulate all of our minds to see this woman._

The more Ford thought about, the more sure he was. He refused to be tricked by Magum again like he had done in the past. But a small thought gnawed at him: What if Layla's death was the illusion and this woman was the real thing…?

Ford shook his head furiously, getting rid of the thought. No, he had to think rationally and thoroughly. The last thing they needed was a spy within their ranks.

Finally, the three were in the elevator and it began to descend. The woman gasped as she frantically went to find something to grab, her immediately grabbing Ford's arm. He went rigid, not sure how to react, so he just stood there looking straight ahead as if she wasn't there.

The elevator landed to the basement where Ford and Stan exited like they have done a million times before. The young brunette however poked her head out only and glanced around, as if she was expecting an ambush of some kind. Hesitantly she stuck her foot out, then her leg, then finally her whole body. Her hand went to her side for her gun, but Ford had confiscated it the first moment he had, and her face grimaced with panic and loss.

 _She looks like how I felt when I realized I didn't have mine…_ Again, Ford shook his head. He couldn't go and compare himself to someone that claimed that she was his daughter.

Ford then went up to one of his computers and took the chair and set it by the girl. "Sit," he ordered. His voice wasn't loud or rude, but it was so emotionless and calm that Stan took a step back. Ford then kept standing as he gestured to Stan to sit in the folding chair that was there that conman had brought downstairs for himself.

"So… is this an interrogation?" the woman asked, her voice small. Ford had given her a glare and she shrunk into herself. Her stature was small so her shrinking more within herself almost made her look like a child.

"Sixer, go easy on the kid," Stan suggested. "Obviously she's been through-"

"Stanley, you can't possibly tell me that you believe her?" Ford snapped. "Think about a past conversation we had. How can a dead person have a child?"

Stan opened his mouth and then closed it. He had nothing.

The young woman then stood up, her knocking the chair back. Her brown eyes became hard as she folded her arms across her chest. "I know this sounds crazy, and I know that Magum is a master of illusion, but it's true!" she insisted.

Ford went over to his computer console and stared blankly at the keys. "I saw her body, girl, there is no possible way," he said sadly.

"Annie," the girl stated harshly and sounded extremely annoyed. "My name is Annie. Well, it's Annabeth, but I'm called 'Annie' for short."

 _Annabeth…?_

"Do you know who that was…?" Ford then asked softly.

"My grandmother, my mom's mom," Annie then elaborated. "And speaking of my mother she is in terrible danger! Magum took some kind of chip thing from her head, then suddenly he summoned the Axolotl and killed him and-"

"The _Axolotl_!?" Ford then shouted. "As in the deity that had taken Bill Cipher's physical form away!?"

Annie shrugged. "I'm not sure about all that… I just know that Magum said something about Dr. Bartek hiding something in my mom's head."

 _Rick… was actually right about that!?_

Annie then took something from underneath her shirt. It was small pendant, it looked as though it was a clear quartz. She then removed it from around her neck and held it out towards Ford.

"When I was very small, Magum kept track of my every move because he could read my mind," Annie began. "But, when one day I wandered from home and went outside I saw this pink little lizard thing… it told me that this necklace would protect me from having my mind read and be immune to the illusions. It said that one day I will meet someone that would have a great distrust in newcomers and that I should present them this." She held the necklace further away from her.

Ford eyed the quartz-looking crystal. It didn't look familiar to him in the slightest. "And… what am I supposed to get out of that…?" he questioned slowly and harshly as he snatched the pendant from her hand. "It's just a cryst-" Ford then cut off as he suddenly fell backwards, the sound of Stan's chair scrapping against the floor as he made his was to his fallen twin.

"Sixer!" was the last thing Ford heard before his vision went black.

* * *

Ford's eyes opened and he was lying in the middle of a wheat field, something he was familiar with as it was his Dreamscape.

He stood up, seeing that the necklace was tangled within his hand. "What kind of powerful illusion is Magum up to…!?" he snarled as he tried to untangle the necklace, but it seemed it was stuck on him. "Wha!?"

 _"_ _It is okay, Six-Fingered Hand,"_ a soft voice whispered.

Ford frantically looked around, not familiar with the voice. Who was it? Despite it being so soft, it sounded so powerful. A soft glow materialized in front of him, a light pink that glowed brighter and brighter until an axolotl appeared with its magenta colored external gills branching off form the side of its head.

"Are… are you _the_ Axolotl…?" Ford whispered in awe, seeing the creature float around as if was swimming in the air. The creature then lied on its back as if he was water and it curled its tail towards its face.

 _"_ _Why yes… and you are Stanford Filbrick Pines, the Six-Fingered Hand,"_ the creature replied gently as he floated pass.

"According to that girl… Annie… you are dead…" Ford pointed out, his eyes narrowing.

 _"_ _Physically, yes, but I have a couple pieces of my soul within certain things,"_ the Axolotl explained. _"Like this pendant for Annabeth… the young child grew up in such a terrible world, but I was able to protect her the small way that I could through this."_

Ford then took a step back, feeling his heart in his throat. "Are you telling me… that… that she is…?"

 _"_ _Your daughter…? Why, yes!"_ the Axolotl excitedly said as it twirled in the air, a small portal being formed. The image showed of two falling figures, and when Ford looked more closely it was of Layla Bartek and Magum. _"Layla Bartek desperately tried to make sure that you got away in time… so she thought she would sacrifice herself for you. However, Magum wasn't through with her, and he formed a new plan. He made the illusion that she was dead to you, to see you break and hopefully disappear and die somewhere in the Multiverse."_ The image then showed of Layla's broken form, something that Ford had seen in nightmares.

 _"_ _An unexpected thing though was that Layla was pregnant, so Magum kept that to his advantage. He basically forced a deal with her in order for her to protect the child."_ The Axolotl floated towards Ford, its black eyes swirling with visions of spinning galaxies. Within the portal the image changed to small toddler girl with the biggest brown eyes, her with a smile as she was being held by her mother. _"That little girl is a lot like you… not just physical traits. She is quite intelligent… she can be quite excited to discover something new… a trait that I see very strong in your family._

 _"_ _I know you have a hard time trusting people since what your twin brother and Bill Cipher have done. But, you have learned to forgive. Your brother as we speak right now is making sure you have no head injuries. And who helped open your heart? The Pine Tree and the Shooting Star did, such amazing young individuals. Maybe it is time for your heart to open a little more, and it begins with that girl."_

Ford felt frozen as he saw inside the portal, the image changing to Annie as a young child and trying to explore the world around her. Her face would light up with excitement as she saw something and immediately began to write things down, her brow furrowing. The image changed to Annie being older, most likely her age now, as she aimed a gun at random monsters that were chasing her down in alleyways.

He felt something in his chest, something that was building. It was a sense of pride, something he felt with Dipper and Mabel on multiple occasions. She wasn't lying after all, she was really his daughter.

A pang of guilt hit him so hard that he actually stumbled. How did he fall for an illusion trick so easily…!? He should've seen through it and had rescued Layla somehow. He should've been there for his love and their child, but he let the illusion get the best of him.

 _"_ _Do not fret over it,"_ the Axolotl gently cooed. _"Magum is a master manipulator. But, you know there is a way to beat him…"_

"His own wheel," Ford responded, an image of the wheel appearing next to him.

 _"_ _You already have half the people…"_

"Dipper was taken."

 _"_ _The Pine Tree will return, he must face himself first."_

Ford gave a confused look. "What do you mean… is it because… of Bill Cipher possessing him?" he then asked, worry in his voice.

The Axolotl gave a firm nod. _"It is true that when a demon possess a soul, there is a chance of it bonding. Some bonds are easily broken though, but between Bill Cipher and Pine Tree there is a strong power."_

"How do you break it!?" For then demanded, him waving his hands. "How do I free Dipper from Bill haunting him!? The boy tried to _kill_ himself over and over again!"

The Axolotl gave him a sad look. _"You simply can't… it is something that Pine Tree must do himself. And the first step is: Forgiveness."_

"FORGIVNESS!?" Ford screamed furiously. "How can _anyone_ ever forgive something that Bill Cipher has done!?"

 _"_ _And that's where you and Magum need to figure out."_ The Axolotl said simply. _"But first… you need to forgive yourself by getting to know your daughter."_

Ford froze in place. He was once again compared to Magum, and it was something that he hated. He even hated that he was compared to Bill as well.

 _"_ _Do not worry Stanford, you are part of the bloodline of Pine, you will be fine."_

"Wait… what do you mean-!?"

* * *

"-ixer!"

Ford blinked open his eyes and saw above a face that nearly mirrored his own and one that looked completely worried.

"Stanford, you okay?" Stan asked his twin worriedly. "You just took a swan dive to the floor!"

"Are you… okay…?" Annie then asked hesitantly

Stan then helped Ford sit up, the old scientist putting the hand that held the pendant to his head. The pendant hung in his line of vision, it swinging in front of his eyes. He looked from the pendant to the young woman that was crouched next to his brother.

Annie looked extremely similar to Mabel at a first glance, but when paying attention to detail he saw that she had a similar head shape to her mother, the same eye shape, and an upturned nose, even the freckles were from Layla. But the pinkish nose was definitely a strong trait in the Pines family as Dipper had it as well as he himself and his twin. The rosy cheeks was something that Mabel had prominently, something that he could recall that on his father's side of the family that many of the women had rosy cheeks.

"I'm… I'm fine…" Ford insisted as he stood up shakily. He then handed the necklace back to Annie, her taking it gingerly and putting it back around her neck. Ford then looked her directly in the eyes, seeing the exact same brown color he sees in the mirror when he shaved like a normal person. "Annie… I think we have a lot to talk about…"

Stan then gave his brother a startled look. "Wait… you hit your head and you just flipped?" he said with shock to his brother.

"No, it wasn't the fact I just simply hit my head." Ford insisted as he put a hand to his aching head. "The Axolotl is an all power deity, it put a part of its soul into that necklace so that it could protect you from Magum," he then explained to Annie. He then turned to his twin and said gently, "I need to talk to her alone… you should probably comfort Mabel…"

Stan scratched the back of his head, tipping his fez forward. "Well… I do know what it's like to see your twin brother get sucked into a portal…" he pointed out sadly, him then shuffling his way toward the elevator door. "If ya need me, don't hesitate."

"I know, Stanley." Ford assured. "Thank you."

"FINALLY!"

"WE ARE _NOT_ GOING THROUGH THIS EVERY TIME I SAY 'THANK YOU' TO YOU!"

Annie giggled at the interaction, her putting her hands to her mouth trying to cover her laughter. Both twins looked over to her, her trying to suppress a smile. "Sorry… I just never seen this kind of thing before, it's kind of funny," she quickly explained.

Stan did a small wave off as he stepped into the elevator, it then beginning to ascend. Once the elevator was out of the basement, Ford gestured to Annie to sit in the chair once again. She complied, her crossing one leg over the other awkwardly.

"You said… we had a lot to talk about…?" Annie asked slowly. "Does that mean… you believe me…?"

Ford gave her a final look, him seeing her as the little girl that was shown to him. A deep regret ached within his chest, he had missed her growing up. He never got to hold her as a baby or child, or hear her excitedly call him "Daddy" or "Dad".

"I'm…I'm sorry…" his voice cracked with emotion. "I'm so sorry I was not there for you… I should've realized it was all a set up by Magum… I should've been there for your mother and you… I'm so sorry…" Tears fell off his chin, him not bothering to hide them. He had been in therapy for a couple of months, and recently him talking about Layla brought many of those raw emotions back. However, not only did he let Layla down, but he had let Annie down.

Annie gave him wide brown eyes, her putting her hands up in surrender, both of them with six-fingers. "It's not your fault!" she frantically assured. "You didn't know! I don't blame you for not being around!" Annie then stood up from her chair and walked over to Ford. "Mom never spoke ill of you from what I have heard, she still deeply cares for you."

Ford's ears perked when he heard "from what I have heard". "Um, Annie, what do you mean by that?" he asked her.

Annie darted her eyes away. "Well… that was part of Mom's and Magum's deal. He got to do whatever he want to her and I would not be harmed in any way by him. His other condition was that she never mentioned you to me at all.

"But… you seemed to know who I was…" Ford pointed out, completely confused.

Annie then lowered her head. "When I was thirteen, my two caretakers, Mari and Kari, sat down with my mother after I had went to bed. They knew I was still awake and knew that I liked to eavesdrop on their conversations.

"I heard Mom talk about you for the first time in my life. She loves you dearly still to this day, saying what she was doing was hopefully a great distraction that Magum wouldn't go after you. She talked of your guys' adventures, and she described you physically, which was how I knew who you were when I saw you." Annie's eyes lit up the more she talked. "The more she talked about you, the more I knew I was so much like you! The way I talked, despite not being around you, was much different than my mother's, her always saying I was very smart. She even said that I reminded her of someone when I would tell her the amazing discoveries I had made… I wanted to meet you for years…"

Ford absorbed every word that she had said. She had to spy on her mother and caretakers to even know about him. It was obviously planned so that she knew the truth, because technically Layla didn't mention him to Annie at all, she was simply having a conversation with friends.

"Well," Ford said finally. "If I ever meet Mari and Kari, I will thank them for helping take care of you."

Annie's eyes darkened. "You can't… they're dead."

"D-dead…?" Ford echoed in shock. "What do you mean?"

Annie put her hands to her chest, covering where her heart was. "What I mean is that Magum found out and executed them in front of myself and my mother… I watched as their heads were ripped from their necks and watched blood shoot up like a fountain…"

Ford felt as though he was going to throw up. That was a vision that he rather not have gotten.

"I'll never forget their last words to me…" Annie whispered so softly that Ford barely heard her. "They said that they would do it all again for me… and that one day I will meet you."

Ford then closed his eyes and hung his head. It wasn't much, but it was a silent thanks and acknowledgment to the two caretakers that helped raise Annie. "I wish them well in the afterlife," he whispered. He then raised his head and looked at the girl that seemed like a perfect combination between himself and Layla. "But… my thing is this… Why did Magum want Dipper and to take him…?"

Annie pondered for a moment. After a second she snapped her fingers. "The Axolotl mentioned that the 'Pine Tree' was bonded to a demon's soul… or was it the other way around…?"

"'Pine Tree'… that's Dipper's symbol on the wheel…" Ford connected.

Annie nodded. "After the death of the Axolotl he ordered that Dipper was to be brought back there…" Annie added. "I don't know what for exactly…" She then looked at Ford seriously, her brows furrowed. "'Dipper' _can't_ be his real name… that's stupid. If that's the case his name should just be 'Pine Tree'!"

Ford then laughed at the statement. "No, no," he assured her. "It's just a nickname, when we get him back and you meet him you will see why."

Annie then sat back in the chair, it creaking with age. "That girl… with the curly hair like mine… she mentioned that he was her twin… and the man that looked so similar to you mentioned about a twin too…"

Ford nodded. "Mabel is Dipper's twin sister. They are very close to each other, they have been through Hell and back together," Ford explained. "When Dipper was taken from us before… it changed her. Now, the man you mentioned that said looked like me is _my_ twin brother, Stanley. He is you uncle."

Annie's eyes dart around. "Um… so what do I call him…?" she asked curiously.

"You call him 'Uncle Stan'," Ford told her. "You will hear Mabel call him 'Grunkle Stan' though and even myself 'Grunkle Ford'."

Annie sputtered a laugh, "G-Grunkle? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means 'Great Uncle'," Ford explained quickly. "Mabel and Dipper are my and Stan's older brother's grandchildren. Which means… you are cousins with their father… so that would mean that you are second cousins with the kids."

Annie looked totally lost. "HEH?!" she screeched, her voice sounded much like her mother's. " _Excuse me!?_ What does that all even _mean_!?"

Ford gave her a small smile. "It means they are your family…" he said simply. He then stood up from his chair and offered a hand to Annie. "Now… do you want to meet your family?" he asked her.

Annie then took his hand to hers, both for the first time feeling what it was like to shake another person's and that was identical to their own.

"I am, Stanford."

"You can call me Ford… or Dad… although the latter would take getting used to…" he joked, his face turning pink with embarrassment.

Annie then gripped his hand harder as she stood up. "I _am_ ready to meet my family, Dad. And I will help rescue Dipper from Magum."

* * *

 **A/N:** Now we know Annie's name! Well, the long version anyway. Don't worry, her full name will be revealed. Is she a Bartek or is she a Pines? Or is it both?

Anyway, quick references:

 _\- Annie's full first name is "Annabeth". This is a reference to the "Percy Jackson" series_

 _\- "Annie" is a reference to "Attack on Titan"_

 _\- Many of the Axolotl's movements in the air is based off how Mew from "Pokemon" would act. I tried to replicate it. They are both cute pink things!_

 _\- Annie's necklace is based off a necklace that I own that looks like Jyn Erso's from "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"_

Thank you all for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	3. What is Family?

**Chapter 2: What is Family?**

Annie followed Ford back to the elevator as he called it, the metal rattling as it descended back to the bottom floor.

"Why do you have this giant room…?" Annie asked her father with curiosity.

Ford gave a small smile. "Well, I am a scientist. I study anomalies, so I was drawn to this town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, which had the highest weirdness content on the United States."

"Anomalies…?" Annie echoed. "What would you consider an anomaly?"

Ford then held up his hand. "Well, this for example," he stated softly/

Annie gave him a confused look. "I have that too… so, what of it?" she snapped, maybe a little too harshly.

Ford gave her a sad look. "In some way you are blessed to not have grown up in a world where your peers are cruel and not understanding. Polydactyl, which is having extra appendages such as fingers and toes, is considered a birth defect, or abnormal."

"No. Mom said I was normal." Annie growled.

"And you are, there is really no difference." Ford assured, his voice soft and understanding. "You know your mother has a birth defect as well, correct? Her left hand, she has symbrachydactyly, which is the opposite of what we have, she is _missing_ appendages, like her thumb and pinky."

"We are still human." Annie pointed out harshly. "Even if I have a damn tail for having extra vertebrae I am _still human._ "

Ford gave her a brilliant smile, something that she had heard her mother say that she had. "I wish I had that kind of thinking when I was younger… I probably would've grown into a different man. When I was growing up I was called a freak by children and even adults alike. My family was always there for me, especially my twin brother. He always beat up bullies for me and told me that I was his brother always and it didn't matter if I had six fingers, or five, or even a million. I was family."

Annie scrunched up her face in confusion. "Family…? You mention that word a lot, but I am not totally familiar with it," she confessed.

"Your mother is your family, I am your family, Stan is your family, the little girl you're going to meet is your family," Ford explained. "Even friends are considered family in a way, an extended family."

Annie still wasn't familiar with it. Her entire life she was with her mother and her two caretakers. In a way she would guess that Mari and Kari were like second and third mothers to her. When her mother was forced away from her for long periods of time, it was them that took care of her. Whom she never considered kind of nice to her was Magum…

Magum always had glared at her as if she was a disposable insect. He never called her by her name, always "girl", which was why when Ford called her girl she snapped. Magum would corner her as a child and tell her how she technically shouldn't exist and that she was only alive because her mother was being tortured to protect her. Annie grew up guilty that she existed, her being the reason why her mother was beaten and tortured by the demon. Then the one day that her mind couldn't be read, he was furious with her, but he paid her no mind most of the time, rather not wanting to deal with her.

But that was going to change. She was going to save her mother from Magum! For once she was going to save and protect her!

The elevator finally reached down to them, it taking a little longer than usual, probably from age and needed some maintenance. Annie stepped inside the metal contraption, her nearly jumping out of her skin when it began to move.

"So, what is you full _full_ name?" Ford asked her. "Like my name is Stanford Filbrick Pines."

Annie thought for a moment. Once in a while her mother would call her by her full name. "My full name…? Hmmm… I never heard much of it… I am Annabeth I know that… Annabeth…" Annie then thought of a time that she had wandered away from her mother and Layla screamed at her in panic. "My name is Annabeth Fordley Bartek-Pines."

Ford looked completely surprised at her name, his brown eyes wide. "Really…? Fordley?" he asked her, completely baffled.

"I'm assuming because you are called 'Ford' for short with your name." Annie assumed with a shrug.

"Fordley is a surname typically," Ford elaborated. "It means thoughtfulness, or loving your family."

"Oh…" Annie replied. "I just thought Mom did that to stick it to Magum because he absolutely hated you."

Ford laughed, "Knowing Layla, that was a bonus and she did it on purpose."

At that point they were in the corridor that would lead to the vending machine door. Ford pressed a button on his watch and it swung open, Annie stopping to see how it did it. When they were going down she didn't pay much attention to it, but as she glanced at the door she was impressed by the mechanics of it.

"Oh, and by the way," Ford quickly said before they went through the door. He went inside his suit jacket, going to an inside pocket he had and grabbed Annie's gun. With a small glance at it he then handed it to her, handle facing her. "I believe you know how to use it."

Annie took it gingerly. "Of course… I built it," she said happily as she put it in her holster. "I didn't have much to do as a child, so I liked to build things out of scrap metal… I began building myself toys and as I got older, weapons. This is my pride and joy, it took me _years_ to build."

Ford gave a nod as they entered the gift shop and the vending machine door closed. "That's… quite impressive. I've modified my weapons during my time in the multiverse, but to build from scratch…? That's amazing." Ford told her.

Annie felt her face go red. "Oh… heh, thanks," she replied nervously as she scratched behind her head.

"It's no problem to give you a compliment," Ford said as he glanced at the security hatches that were over the doors and windows. "Have a look around, I'll be with you shortly. I have to make sure the security perimeters are fine." He then walked off towards a door that read "Employees Only" and went though, the door swinging behind him, him muttering to himself and glancing at his watch.

Annie then for the first time fully glanced around at where she was. To her it looked like one of the merchant bazars she had went to with her mother when they snuck out, except the place she was in was a lot tackier looking. Bizarre things decorated the walls, but it looked like that they were thrown together without a second thought, the items looking extremely disorganized.

She then went to the swinging door, her gingerly pushing it and seeing how it moved without much pressure. Annie then entered, her entering what seemed like a completely different place. It looked as though it was a quaint little home. The floors were wooden and so were the walls, the walls being decorated with countless pictures.

The pictures were mostly of a small boy and girl, the girl with silver in her mouth and the boy wearing some kind of hat with a tree on it. They looked happy enough, both of them smiling largely as they were in front of the house, or in the tacky room, or in a room with some kind of glowing box. The pictures continued as the boy and girl looked older, them standing in front of a large tree with Ford and Stan, all four of them with identical eyes and smiles.

"Do you know where Dipper went?" a soft voice asked from behind.

Annie spun around, her hand instinctively going to her side. What she saw was the girl from the photos, the girl she noticed that had the same curly hair as herself. The young brunette before her was wearing a large sweater, one that honestly looked way too big on her, that was blue and white with a tree on the front, her wearing some kind of blue hair piece.

"I… I am not one hundred percent sure…" Annie honestly admitted. "I just know that Magum wants him for something."

"Oh…" was all the girl said as she hung her head and began to sniffle.

"Um…" Annie grunted, her not sure what to do. She never dealt with anyone younger than herself. "My name is Annabeth… but you can call me Annie…" she then lightly said, her trying to make conversation.

The girl held up her hand, but her head still hung low. "Mabel." Annie then gingerly took Mabel's hand and gave it a small shake. Mabel then finally looked back up, her brown eyes filled with tears. "Why does another demon want my brother…? He's already dealing with so much since Bill…"

Annie didn't know what to say. The girl before her was about half her age and about her size, but the way she spoke seemed like she was more mature than she would let on. Annie glanced back at the pictures, her seeing the smiling faces of Mabel and her brother both holding an animal, a cat in Dipper's arms and a pig in Mabel's.

"Do you have a place to sleep…?" Mabel then asked quietly.

"Pardon?" questioned Annie, not sure if that was what Mabel had asked.

Mabel gave a small smile. "Well, I'm sleeping in my brother's room tonight… his girlfriend is sleeping in my room, and my boyfriend is sleeping in the living room," she explained. "When we redid the attic we made sure there was a spare room for storage, it has my and Dipper's old beds in there. You can sleep in there if you like."

"Um… sure…" Annie agreed as she followed Mabel through the hallway to reach a flight of stairs. Annie had never slept in her own bed, she and her mother had always shared.

As they ascended the stairs, Annie saw more pictures hanging on the walls. It was more of the siblings, a few of them with a couple of blondes that looked around their age. The home seemed very lively filled with pictures as there were quite a few of Stan in a boat with the kids and some larger young man.

"Oh, and we got this awesome bathroom," Mabel pointed out. "It has this little cubby where you take a shower but you're still in private so others can use the toilet or get ready. You can use the shower if you want… I have a sweater that could fit you and some other stuff you can borrow."

Annie gave her a skeptical look. "Why… why are you being nice…?" she questioned.

Mabel stopped and turned around to face her. "Because we're family. That's what family does," she said simply, her making it seem so obvious.

 _This is what a family does…?_

Annie was led to the bathroom while Mabel quickly ran to a room that was a little but down the hall. As the door opened Annie noticed that a girl with long blonde hair poked her head out to get a look at her. Mabel quickly left the room, giving the blonde a small wave before shutting the door behind her.

Mabel then handed a small pile of clothing to Annie, the pile being a soft pair of purple pants, a large pink sweater, a pair of underwear, and some clean socks. Annie felt the soft clothing with her fingertips, her never feeling anything so clean and soft.

Annie turned on the water in the small alcove where the shower was, her shutting the small door behind her, letting the steam trap inside. Where she was from there was barely any hot water, her usually used to freezing cold water.

Once she undressed and let the steaming water hit her it had felt like years of stress evaporated. It felt like she was under the water for hours, it never wavering form its temperature. Her hand gripped the necklace that hung around her neck, her feeling an odd comfort to it as the water pulsed at her back. She washed her hair quite a few times, her untangling the knots and curls that matted to her skull. When the water was turned off drops from the showerhead dripped onto the shower flooring.

Annie stood there, feeling the steam swirl around like some ghostly tail. How could she stand here being warmed and properly clothed while her mother was still in the other dimension being tortured by Magum? A sniffle escaped her as tears mixed with the water streaming down her cheeks.

 _How can I stand here…? I have to help Mom… I have to help her…!_

She exited the shower, her being in the steam filled alcove, her taking the clean towels she saw hanging. She dried herself quickly, her putting on the clean clothes. The sweater was big on her, but she could guess that it was big on Mabel as well. Once she exited the alcove there was a brush sitting on the counter, her taking it gingerly in her hands as she began to brush through her curls.

As a child she hated that her mother brushed her hair. It was always painful and difficult to get through due to her having extremely thick hair, and the curls didn't help either. But with the proper washing and conditioning her curls were easier to manage.

Annie caught herself in the mirror, her seeing someone she barely recognized; she had never looked so clean for as far as she could remember. She finally saw what was on the front of the sweater, something that looked like a giant purple cat sticking out a blue tongue was sewn into it. It didn't suit her.

What she didn't expect when she opened the door to leave was to see her father standing a little ways by the door. He seemed distracted with something, him looking like he had been fidgeting.

"Hey… you okay?" Annie called out softly, seeing Ford jump nearly out of his skin.

Ford no longer was wearing the black suit that he wore earlier. Instead he was sporting a dark maroon sweater and black pants. Over his sweater was a torn up brown trench coat and he wore muddy boots.

"Oh, Annie," Ford replied. "I was just seeing how you were doing."

"I've been better." Annie bitterly replied. She realized that what she said was a little harsh so she apologized, "Sorry…"

Ford then gestured for her to follow him, him leading her to the first door that was by the stairs. Inside looked like a small storage room, it having two beds that were against each other in the corner, one looking old while that other had a small painting of a flower and an old headboard. Boxes were piled in another corner, a small lamp sitting atop. The room oozed old as the air itself felt dusty. On the beds was a small piles of blankets and pillows, most likely for her, and her old clothing that was folded neatly and looked freshly washed.

"Sorry if this is a little messy, Annabeth," Ford apologized. "We hadn't truly decided if this is going to be a guest room or a storage room."

"Better than where I'm from," Annie commented, her eyes darting around. The room she had grown up in was small, it was more like a loft than anything with everything in one place and only a small room in the corner had been a bathroom.

Annie then walked to where the beds were, her putting a hand gently on the clothing. They felt warm to the touch and they smelled like flowers.

"Mabel just got those out of the dryer," Ford informed her as he walked up next to her. His expression turned serious. "But, that's not what I wanted to discuss…"

"You want to find a way to the dimension where Magum is," Annie stated bluntly. "I know that it is what you want. But, I have no control of portal openings. Since Magum killed and ate the heart of the Axolotl he had gained the power for himself."

Ford's face twisted up in a grimace. "That… sounds disgusting…" he murmured. "And yes, that is what I want to do is get to that dimension." He then gave a sly smile. "But, I know how to get there… we need to build an interdimensional portal."

Annie's eyes widened, her remembering the large triangular one that Magum had built. "But… building one is impossible without the proper materials! It could take _years_!"

Ford gave a shrug. "Eh, eight months to build mine. Not that hard actually." His brown eyes then wet hard. "However, I _do_ know where we can find one already built."

"Where…?"

"Your grandfather's house. The laboratory of Dr. Bartholomew Bartek."

* * *

 **A/N:** And now we know Annie's full name! The name "Fordley" is a surname that has multiple meanings on family and being comfortable with oneself. But let's be real, Layla named Annie that to shove it to Magum. Ah, well.

We will find out more about Annie's childhood in a later chapter!

Also, sorry this took so long! I'm... leveling up in "Overwatch"... Mercy is my main.

Thanks for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	4. The Soul Bounded Pine Tree

**Chapter 3: A Soul Bounded Pine Tree**

His body felt like that it was ran over a truck over and over again, his head feeling as though it was splitting at the skull, he had no idea where he was at as his eyes were closed due to them being swollen shut.

Dipper barely remembered what had happened as he and that monster entered the portal. All he remembered was the outstretched hand of Ford and the look of panic in the old scientist's eyes.

Once through the portal however, he remembered quite lividly.

As their bodies hit solid ground, Dipper used whatever strength he could to loosen the grip of the monster that had held him. He had managed to kick the monster in the ribs as it had a fresh wound from the laser weapon that person in the gym had shot. The monster had howled and dropped him, Dipper landing on his feet and running as fast as he could.

He had no idea where he was at. Everything around him was made of some kind of dark metal in some dark corridor, everything looking identical. Dipper had gripped his brown hair in frustration. Did he go in circles? Which way did he come from? Where had he been and where did he need to go?

As Dipper had spun around, ready to run from where he was, he had seen a tall man-like being with soulless white eyes that glared down at him. The man had a gray clammy skin as though it was made from rubber. No hair was on his head and he dressed in a pure black suit that was so black that it was as though it was a black hole.

Before Dipper could say anything, something hit the back of his head with such a force that he had instantly blacked out and collapsed, his face smacking against the ground.

Now he felt as though he was in a sitting position, his legs tied together and his hands tied behind his back. Even though his eyes were swollen shut there was still a cloth over them causing his glasses to smash against his face, a blindfold. Dipper felt as though he was in a kidnapping position, something he hadn't felt since a mind controlled Bud Gleeful tied Mabel and himself to chairs and dangled over a carved mountainside.

A warmness spread across his body, the aching disappearing and his eyes feeling as though they were back in his skull where they belonged. He had felt this presence before… when he hit his head in Dr. Bartek's basement, or from when he cut his hand on the mirror glass from punching it.

Suddenly the blindfold was taken off his eyes, Dipper seeing the strange man once again. However, he felt as though he knew him…

"Magum Cerebrum of the Telepathic Dimension," the brunette teenager rasped, his voice sounding hoarse and dry.

The man gave a wolf-like smile. "Ah, so you know of me? Or is it because if that little _friend_ of yours in your soul?" he sneered.

Completely baffled Dipper replied, "The hell are you tal-"

 _Don't fool around with me boy!"_

Dipper went silent, his composure deadly calm.

 _I swear… you humans are getting far more annoying than you're worth!"_ Magum then composed himself and took a deep breath. "So, you are the Pine Tree? You don't look very impressive to me," he commented with a tone of distaste.

"Well, you don't look impressive to me either, but whatever." Dipper retorted, rolling his eyes. As he rolled them he noticed that his right lens was cracked in the corner. He bit back a sigh of annoyance at that.

Magum leveled himself to Dipper's eye level, brown versus white. "You remind me of someone that I have dealt with a long time ago… you even look similar to him…" he then remarked. "From what I understand he had escaped the multiverse a couple of years ago…"

Dipper's mind raced, him knowing exactly who he was talking about. "You… are talking about Stanford Pines, correct…?" he asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

The demon gave a slow nod. "You're related to him, aren't you?"

"I'm his… great nephew…" Dipper slowly replied, a heavy feeling telling him that he shouldn't have said that.

"How… _intriguing…"_

All Dipper could do was sit there. What could he do? He was literally tied up.

"Now… what are the odds of two members of the same family being part of some prophetic wheel?"

Dipper bit his tongue, him not even daring to mention that Mabel and Stan were his family and part of the wheel too. Did it make a difference that the Pines family was on Bill Cipher's wheel? That couldn't be a coincidence…

Magum then tapped Dipper on his forehead. "Now… how about you get our little _friend_ to control your body for a little chat."

The thought of Bill Cipher using his body once again as a puppet raged through him. Dipper then felt a burning sensation course through his veins, something he had felt a few times when he was heavily provoked.

"And there he is."

"LIKE HELL HE IS!" Dipper screamed as blue flames licked his arms, burning the suit jacket he was wearing. The heat didn't bother him, it never had in the past.

Magum gave him almost a pitiful look. "It seems that Cipher has heavily influenced your soul to the point where you can manifest his powers…" he mused. "That is odd… I've never heard or even seen that before…"

The flames died out just as fast as they had appeared, Dipper feeling as if the energy was stripped from him. He panted as he sat in the chair, his suit jacket singed and torn, as he looked up through his bangs that hung in his eyes.

"He'll get out eventually," Magum told him as he began to walk away. "I'll make sure of it. But for now, I have bigger fish to fry in the Earth dimension." He then snapped his fingers and red flames burned off Dipper's bonds. "Now, take him away. I don't care where he goes."

A different kind of monster grabbed Dipper from behind and began to drag him. Dipper had no energy to move his head to see what kind of monster it was, so he just stared straight as he saw Magum open a portal and enter through.

Dipper was then tossed into a room, the back of his head slamming onto the floor, his vision blurring. He groaned in pain as he raised a wobbly hand to his head, pain coursing through him. Something blurred went into his line of vision, him blinking multiple times to try to help. Once his vision cleared he saw a pair of bright electric blue eyes staring at him.

"AH!" he yelped as he tried to scooch back, but he barely moved an inch.

The person before him was female with extremely pale skin, a stark white. She had long hair that was a dark gray with streaks of silver. Her clothing was a black sweater and pants, her wearing boots that went up to her knees.

"Are you okay, little boy?" she asked him gently, worry in her voice.

"I'M NOT LITTLE!" Dipper shouted defensively.

The woman gave him a sour look. "Okay…" she drew out the word. "What is your name then?" she then asked him slowly.

"Dipper," he replied hoarsely. "Dipper Pines."

"P-Pines…?" she echoed, her eyes widening. "Are… are you related to a… Stanford Pines?"

Dipper managed to sit up, rubbing his temple with his hands. "Yeah… He's my great uncle," he replied. He then adjusted his glasses, them being smudged from them being pressed against his face.

"So… he _is_ okay?" the woman sighed with relief. "He had gotten home?"

Dipper then observed the woman real closely, him thinking that she looked familiar. He remembered seeing a hand drawn picture of someone that looked similar to her. The eyes were unique and different and when he glanced at her hands… her left was missing her thumb and pinky.

"Are… are you Layla Bartek?" Dipper questioned, his brown eyes widened. "But… Grunkle Ford said you were dead…!"

Layla's eyes filled with tears. "He… he really thought that? Magum is a demon that is a master of illusion…"

"But… you are alive!" Dipper got up and stood on wobbly legs. "We… we have to get… get out of here…" _If Magum has a way to make Bill Cipher return then I got to leave! I can't let Bill come back!_

"You are in no condition to even move, Dipper!" Layla snapped, her almost sounding motherly. "You are going to rest before you even _think_ of doing anything!" She then walked up to him and gingerly took his arm, guiding him to a large bed in the corner of the room. "Besides… Annie is out there… she said she was going to find Ford…"

 _Annie…?_

There was a person in the gym that dressed extremely similar to what Ford was wearing when he exited the portal. The person even had a gun that was like Ford's interdimensional gun.

"Who is Annie? Is she someone that is trapped her too?"

"Annie is my daughter," Layla quickly explained as she forced Dipper onto the bed, his body immediately relaxing as the last of energy evaporated.

"Does that mean… that she is Grunkle Ford's daughter too?"

Layla then gave a small nod. "She is, yes," she replied as she found a pathetically thin blanket. "I will explain to you later, Dipper – is that your real name by the way?"

"No…" Dipper rasped. "It's not."

Layla then held something up, something that Dipper recognized as his wallet. He had it with some spare cash, his learners permit, and his school I.D. for the Homecoming Dance. "It says your name is Mason Pines."

Dipper groaned, "Yes, that's my real… name…" He felt his body give out, all energy gone, and he nodded out as his eyes fluttered shut.

Nothing but darkness surrounded him, something that his dreams usually start out with.

* * *

 _Well, well, well,"_

"Hello psychopath demon that lives in my head." Dipper deadpanned in reply.

 _Actually, I'm bounded to your soul."_ A small floating triangle then appeared before Dipper, it being bright yellow with a top hat and bow tie, a single eye in the center. _"You see, I just manifest in your mind, it's easier to communicate."_

"You're dead though! You were erased from my mind!"

 _Yes, your_ mind _, Pine Tree. The soul is a completely different thing. If I hadn't bonded to your soul, then yes, I would be 'dead' essentially, but not really. I am a being of pure energy, I cannot be destroyed. I can only transfer if I 'died'."_

"Then… what would've happened to you if you weren't bound to me…?"

Bill Cipher shrugged. _"To be honest, no idea. Your guess is as good as mine at this point, Pine Tree."_

"Why does Magum want me… or should I say, _you_?"

The scenery of blackness changed to a place that was filled with many other shapes floating around, all living lives like any human would. There were triangles of various colors and eye numbers, same with circles, squares, and rhombuses. It was as if it was just a normal society.

 _"Where I came from… my home dimension. Dream Demons is what my race is, a simple but powerful race. The race is pretty high on the Hierarchy of Demons, but of course there were higher ones._

 _"The Cipher family is what I was a part of, a clan of Dream Demons that were masters of riddles and puzzles, decoding ciphers was what we were known for. My family was considered high in our race, so we were upper class."_

The scene changed to Bill Cipher in a small room, it filled with other triangles that looked similar to him, but they all seemed much larger than him, and all of them had two eyes.

 _"But like every family… I was the odd one out. My powers were the last to manifest, my abilities were considered odd and unusual. I was considered the Black Sheep…"_

Blackness filled once again as the colors melted away. A bright white light filled the space, a new scene taking place. Now a small lizard appeared before him, with bright pink eyes. Something looked familiar about the eyes though…

 _"The Hierarchy of Demons had an annual get-together, a way to show the other demons what we were truly made of. I had made a friend… named Magum. He and I were the same, both the odd ones out. Smaller. Weaker. But oddly enough… the most powerful and held back._

 _"Together as we grew and our powers became stronger, we wanted revenge on the ones that turned their backs to us!"_

Flames of red and blue filled the world, burning any color to a dark ash. Dipper tried to escape the burning landscape, but the flames only followed.

 _"I wanted to see my dimension burn… to show them how powerful I truly was! I was never weak! They only made me think I was to hold me back! Magum and I were going to become rulers of the multiverse! We could've had it all!"_

Bill then appeared in front of Dipper, once again in the blackness. Red flames of anger licked Bill's triangular body, his body red as his eye became black with a red slit pupil.

 _"But then that bastard betrayed me!"_

A large pink creature manifested before them. To Dipper it looked like a giant version of a pet axolotl you would get at a pet store. The axolotl however seemed to radiate some kind of power.

 _"After destroying our home dimensions and attacking and killing the Hierarchy of Demons the Axolotl wanted punishment to be brought! So, what did my_ good _friend do!?_ HE SOLD ME OUT!

Red flames filled Dipper's subconscious, him groaning as the heat became intense.

 _"Magum told the Axolotl that it was all me! That it was_ ME THAT CAUSED EVERYTHING! _I had always know the almighty Axolotl would try to catch up to me, but Magum was just as equally guilty, but he put it all off to me!_

 _"The Axolotl stripped my physical form, and I could only go to the Dreamscape where my race were masters of. But with no physical form… there was no way for me to do anything without influencing another. Dreams to many creatures are what they are: dreams. Once a dream happens and you wake up, it's over, nothing else to remember, it fades away._

 _"I became a memory… and the only place I had any sort of form was the Nightmare Realm… where Dream Demons were banished to._

 _"Why Magum wants me is because at some point I told the Axolotl his plans… and now he is a wanted rogue demon that needs to be stopped. Friends are supposed to bring the best out of each other, but Magum and I brought the best worst of ourselves out._

 _"Pine Tree… the only way to stop Magum is the Axolotl… but… the Axolotl is dead…"_

"DEAD!? How is it _dead_!? If it is so powerful how is it dead!?"

 _"Every demon has a weakness. Mine is the mind because of the Mindscape. The Axolotl's weakness was portals as it was the master of interdimensional travel."_

"Did the Axolotl… make the prophecy wheel for you?"

 _"It did… It was a way to send me back to my burned dimension, my very entity burning forever with my people… they weren't dead, just their energy was trapped in that dimension, forever burning or transferred to me to gain more power._

 _"But Magum has his own wheel… the Axolotl created these wheels for only the worst of the worst in the multiverse. But oddly enough the wheels have quite a few things in common…"_

Dipper looked at the demon oddly, thinking what kind of similarities were there. "Like what?" he then pressed.

 _"Like… your family. Sixer, Shooting Star, Fez, and yourself, Pine Tree. There is something about your family in particular that is essential for the wheels!"_

"Why are you telling me all of this… this whole elaborate backstory? This sounds more like an excuse on why you were such an asshole. You _tortured_ my great uncle! You tried to _kill_ my sister! You used my body and _murdered God knows how many people_! No matter what you explain, no matter what your 'tragic history' is, you are still a monstrous ASSHOLE!"

The demon floated before Dipper, not saying a word, which was uncharacteristic of him.

 _"'One way to absolve his crime. A different form, a different time.'"_

Confusion overran Dipper. "What the _hell_ is that supposed to mean!?" he screamed.

 _"It means… you're my other form in this different time… I am bounded to your soul."_

"You… you're saying that you are going to use me to basically get out of trouble with the Axolotl!?"

 _"The only way for me to return home with my people in a not burning hellhole is to pay for my crimes, and it all started when I began to work with Magum. We fed each other these ideas of anarchy, all of our insecurities of ourselves manifested into some dark power that consumed us with rage and hate._

 _"I am ready to finally pay for my crimes… From you I see what a family really is. I had hurt you and them, but you all stick together and try to help each other. Sixer is trying desperately to make sure you don't kill yourself, even though I tried to influence you so many times and tried to manifest myself through you with my rage and hatred, they helped you through it._

 _"I'm tired, Pine Tree, I just want to go home…"_

Dipper felt the rage fill him. "YOU THINK IT'S THAT EASY?! IS THIS YOUR WAY OF ASKING FORGIVNESS AFTER ALL THE BULLSHIT YOU HAVE DONE?!" the brunette furiously screamed. "Do me a damn favor and stay _FAR AWAY FROM MY MIND!_ "

 _"Pine Tree-!"_

* * *

Dipper sat upright in the bed that he had been forced upon, a cold sweat covering him from head to toe as his heart raced painfully in his chest.

"Mason… are you okay?" a soft voice asked. Dipper turned to see that is was Layla. "You were fidgeting in your sleep…"

"We need to get rid of Magum… there is a wheel, just like Bill's… The Pine Tree, the Shooting Star, the Six-Fingered Hand, and the Crescent… it's my family for both Magum and Bill." Dipper frantically explained as he practically jumped off the bed, his legs buckling beneath him.

"Wait… how did you know that?" Layla sputtered, her eyes wide.

Dipper waved her off. "It doesn't matter!" he insisted. "We need to get back to Earth! The Axolotl is dead and Magum needs to be stopped!" He then glared at her. "And it's _Dipper_! I only get called my real name by the closest people I care about!"

"Okay, okay, geez, you are one angst-y teenager," Layla muttered, her rolling her eyes. "Stop getting your panties in a bunch." She then went over to a small box that was next to the bed and opened it, it revealing two interdimensional pistols. She took one out and tossed one to Dipper, who barely caught it. "I've been waiting to do this for years with Annie, but it seems I have to deal with your whiney ass."

Dipper felt appalled. "Whiney…!?" he snapped.

Layla then pulled out a small device from the same box, along with crumpled up yellowed papers. She tore up the papers and threw them on the floor, her shooting them with her pistol to set the scraps on fire. The device she held in her hand was about the size of a gun, it being a slick black, the only thing a bright color was a swirling ball of energy trapped in a dome on the top of the device.

"What… what is that…?" Dipper asked in awe, the blue reminding him of the portal that Ford had built in the basement.

"Let's just say I finally got a message from an old asshole friend of mine and my daughter is very good at codes and building things." Layla said vaguely. "Now… I hope this thing works… Annie never tested it. I mean, we could get incinerated the moment we step through…"

"It's a _portal gun_!?" Dipper exclaimed. "Why the hell wasn't it used before!?"

Layla then shouted, "Because it took years to gather every essential item for this damn thing! Many nights of sneaking around and myself being punished so my daughter was spared! It took _years_ for this, _Dipper_! I had to try to figure out codes within codes within damn _codes_ to even attempt to help Annie with this project. Now, it may only have enough charge for one portal, but it should be enough to leave this dimension."

"And get back to Earth so we can find the other members of the wheel and stop Magum!" Dipper finished for her.

Layla barked out a bitter laugh, "Ha! Very optimistic kid, but not even damn close! Earth is a large whole dimension! This thing can most likely barely get us to a sub-pocket dimension on the main one we are in, but to get to Earth? HA! You need an interdimensional portal on a large scale to do that! The one Magum had is destroyed and filled with the corpse of the Axolotl!

"You want to get to Earth!? Then you better hope that Annie managed to find Ford, convince him that she isn't some kind of illusion sent by Magum, and for him to activate his portal to get you back!" she finished.

Dipper's heart fell to the pit of his stomach. He remembered at the age of twelve when Ford had first came back to Earth and after a game of DDMD Ford had dismantled the portal. There was no portal.

"Grunkle Ford doesn't have the portal anymore…" Dipper told her almost softly, him feeling a little guilty for yelling at her earlier. "He destroyed it once he got home… he said it was too much of a reminder."

Layla then kicked the wall that was next to the bed. "SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed. "Of course he would do that! DAMN IT!" She then shot at the wall with the portal gun. "Well, we'll think about that later, first thing's first, we need to leave!"

"But you said that the gun wasn't tested!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Well, it's being tested now!" Layla shouted as she grabbed Dipper's wrist and dragged him through the portal.

"Oh, shit!" he screamed as his body went through, his nerves feeling as though they were on fire.

"Welcome to the Interdimensional Travelers Club, Dipper Pines," Layla's voice was heard as Dipper fell flat on his face out of the other side of the portal, him groaning in pain. She then held out a hand for him and he reluctantly grasped it.

"First rule: RUN LIKE HELL!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh, boy. What is Bill trying to pull here?

Now we have the backstory that we had seen from "Beyond the Portal" but in Bill's perspective.

Sorry this took a couple of days... Once again "Overwatch" has taken over my life and so did re-watching "Rick and Morty" after seeing the April Fools airing of season 3.

And yes... Rick will be in this story for those who had asked.

Thank you all for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	5. An Old Friend

**Chapter 4: An Old Friend**

Mabel slept in her brother's bed, her thinking that she could still hear his pen clicking when he was thinking hard about something.

Nightmares filled her head as she slept, her brother once again taken from her. Often her nightmares had Dipper with the yellow eyes of being possessed by Bill Cipher. But her new nightmare was seeing his terrified face as he was being pulled though a portal.

In the morning when she woke she saw Annie standing in the hallway that was by the spare room. The woman's curly hair was a complete mess as he strands of brown hair were sticking up in random directions, something that Mabel could relate to completely.

Mabel didn't know what to think about Annie officially. She thought her newly discovered cousin was nice enough, but personality-wise Mabel was clueless. Did Annie like art? Did she enjoy kittens and puppies? Glitter? Fashion? In a way Mabel was afraid to ask Annie those kind of questions given how Annie was completely confused on the concept of family.

"Hi, Annie." Mabel greeted, noting how immediately the woman went to her side for some kind of weapon.

 _She's as skittish as Grunkle Ford and Dipper…_

"Oh, hello, Mabel." Annie greeted back as she put a hand to her chest. "You gave me a right there, please do not sneak up on me like that. That is how you will get hurt."

The door behind them opens and Pacifica exited Mabel's room. "Oh… hello," the blonde whispered with a small wave.

"Um… hello." Annie replied slowly, not sure how to respond to yet another person.

Mabel then walked up to Pacifica and pushed the blonde toward Annie. "Pacifica, this is Annie, Grunkle Ford's daughter, so she's my cousin," Mabel introduced. "Annie, this is my friend and future sister-in-law, Pacifica, she is Dipper's girlfriend."

Pacifica's face turned to a beet red when Mabel mentioned "future sister-in-law". However, she help out a hand for Annie to shake, who looked at it blankly.

"Am… am I supposed to give you something?" Annie asked nervously.

Pacifica's green eyes went wide. "Oh, no! It's a handshake!" she quickly explained as she then grasped Annie's hand and gave it a firm shake, her not even mentioning that Annie had six fingers like Ford did. "It's how we greet here at least in America."

"Ameri-what?" Annie scoffed. "What, does the Earth dimension have many sub dimensions as well?"

"Heh…?" both Mabel and Pacifica squeaked out.

"Alright, alright, girls, how about we stop with this overload on the poor girl's head," Grunkle Stan's voice said from the stairs. "Yesterday was a bit crazy, we need to be thinking of a plan to get Dipper back."

Mabel couldn't agree more. The last time Dipper was taken by a demon he had become psychologically damaged. Who knew what could result of this exposure?

The young brunette girl followed her great uncle down the stairs. Once downstairs she saw that many people had been added to the Mystery Shack. Wendy and her family were sitting on the living room floor, her brothers trying to tackle on George, who tried to escape but was unsuccessful. Soos, Melody, and Gideon were walking out from the kitchen, and when Soos saw Mabel he gave a wave. A few other random townspeople were there as well.

"What's going on…?" Mabel asked Stan as se tugged on his tradition white tank top that he normally wore when he wasn't in his Mr. Mystery getup.

"Ford went out and gathered a few of them, ya know, since they're friends of the family and all." Stan explained as he tussled Mabel's hair. Her hair was already messy from bed head, so she wasn't too mad like she normally would be.

Pacifica's green eyes examined around. "Wait… what about the kids at the manor!?" she shouted. "There are some real small kids there and-"

"I had taken care of that this morning," Ford's voice was heard as he entered from the gift shop. "I had to deal with some unicorns, ugh, but I managed to get more hair and used the spell to put the magical barrier around Northwest Manor."

Pacifica sighed with relief, "Oh, thank goodness."

"Hey, who is the girl next to Mabel?" Wendy called, her eyes darting in Annie's direction. "I've never seen her before."

Annie immediately darted out of the archway to hide behind the small wall by the bottom of the stairs. Ford looked uncomfortable at the mention of Annie, most likely trying to think of a way to explain her.

"She's… she's…" Mabel stammered as she rubbed her hands nervously together.

"Family," Stan finished for her. "That's all there is to it, Annie is family."

Annie then poked her head out from behind the wall, her giving a small wave. She went back behind though, not really sure if she wanted to come out.

 _It must be hard for her… this is a whole new world and concept to her…_

Thumps were then heard, most likely Annie running back upstairs.

"Now, I'm sure you all know the situation here," Ford began, but immediately he was cut off by Wendy's father, Manly Dan.

"What the hell did you do this time, Dr. Pines!?" Manly Dan shouted loudly, him raising an axe in the air.

Ford then muttered, "I knew I should've made him keep that outside…" He then gave a small cough to clear his throat. "Well, _I_ really didn't do anything. It just happened."

"Does it have something to do with that Annie girl then?" Wendy then muttered from her cell phone, her texting away like she didn't care.

"No." Ford deadpanned, his eyes half closed with what seemed like annoyance. "It has nothing to do with anyone. The one who is doing this is a psychotic demon who is power hungry and will do anything to get it."

The room went silent. "Are you saying…? Bill Cipher is back?" Gideon managed to say, his voice small but loud and clear in the silence.

Mabel's heart dropped. Was it true? But then again the voice she had heard from before when they had escaped the school wasn't Bill's normal shrill tone.

"No… he's not," Ford replied. "This demon is much worse, he is called-"

"Magum Cerebrum," Annie's voice finished from the archway of the living room. Annie was once again wearing her interdimensional clothing from when she had arrived, her dark brown hair held up in a ponytail. "He is a power psychological demon with higher powers of the brain than Bill Cipher ever had. Bill has power of the Mindscape and Dreamscape whereas Magum can access every part of the mind.

"But now that he had murdered the Axolotl, the highest of the Hierarchy of Demons, and ate its heart, Magum now has the ability to open portals through main dimensions, sub-pocket dimensions, and just about anywhere without the use of primitive technology."

Everyone stared at Annie with wide eyes, all but Ford. Murmurs filled the room as Ford strolled past everyone and put a hand on Annie's shoulder to lead her out of the room. Mabel rushed to follow as well, Stan, Pacifica, and George following close behind.

"That was a little harsh, Annie," Ford lightly chastised. "They didn't need to know about all those details-"

"But it's the truth and better for them to know or they'll wind up dead!" Annie interrupted, her voice nearly hysterical. "How can I just stand here while my mother is being tortured by that bastard and that he has the ability to go to any dimension that he pleases!?"

"Not to mention that he has Dipper," Mabel added, causing both Ford and Annie to jump and turn to her. "Grunkle Ford… what do you know about Magum?"

Ford's eyes seemed to have gotten darker as he lightly gestured with his hand for them to follow. They went back through the living room, still filled with worried whispers and murmurs, and went into the gift shop where Ford pressed a button on his watch and the door swung open. As the group descended the stairs Pacifica and George gave each other a nervous glance, they had never been down there before.

Once in Ford's lab he went over to a shelf that he had numerous amounts of books on and grabbed one that looked to be a dark bounded journal. He blew thick dust off it as he opened it, the pages crackling with age.

"Whoa, I've never seen that one," Stan said as he glances at the journal in Ford's hands. "Was it something I missed?"

"No, Stanley," Ford absently replied to his twin. "This is a journal I brought back with me. Years ago Layla had stolen this right from underneath Magum's nose. It had taken countless years to translate everything, but the one thing was clear: A wheel."

"OH, HOLY MOSES NOT ANOTHER ONE!" Stan screamed as he put his hands to his head.

Ford had then found the page he wanted and set the open journal on the table. Mabel immediately went over to the book, her recognizing half the symbols. "Hey…" she called out softly. "These are us still… well, half anyway. Even Pacifica's llama symbol is on here…"

Annie then snatched up the book as her eyes darted all over the page. "It says that the Axolotl made these wheels as an attempt of helping both Bill and Magum seek redemption," she declared.

Ford's brown eyes were wide. "I… I've never been able to translate that properly, how were you able to do so?" he asked her.

Annie gave a ghost of a smile. "Because I grew up around that asshole, I learned very quickly," she replied as she threw the journal back on the table. "But, the real question is, who is the other symbols?"

"Right now I am not concerned about it," Ford lightly said as he went and closed the journal and slipped it inside of his trench coat. "What we need to do is go back to the Bartek cabin."

George stiffened. "Um… y-you mean the house with all… all those dead bodies…!?"

Ford grimly nodded. "Yes, but it's what is in the very bottom floor that's important: A portal."

* * *

Leaving the Shack was difficult, Ford had to lower the defenses long enough for them to leave but short enough to where the magical barrier wouldn't become compromised.

The sky above them was a mixture of red, brown, and black, as though paint was thrown and mixed together heavily to create a disgusting rust color. Large tears were in the sky, things falling from each and every one of them from meteors to monsters crashing into the earth. All around them shadowy demons rummaged through the woods, their pelts ghostly wisps as their eyes were a beady red.

Mabel got in Stan's car like the rest of the family, her sitting in the middle being squished against George and Pacifica. Annie was smooshed between Pacifica and the back driver side door, and George was smooshed against the passenger side door.

The drive wasn't smooth as craters were in the roads, Stan swerving and nearly crashing into a ditch a few times. Large monsters chased from behind, the people in the car the only source of humans around as the others were in hiding or protected by the spells that Ford put up.

Stan then suddenly swerved off road, the wheels of the old El Diablo screeching with effort. Branches whipped at the windshield, cracks spider-webbing across the glass. Just as an old cabin came into view a large bird-like monster crashed through the windshield, it shattering as glass shards cut Stan and Ford's skin.

The monster was a deep blood red, its feathers looking razor sharp with a black beak and beady bright red eyes. It cawed loudly as Stan had swerved the car into a tree, the bird being knocked back as it itself crashed into the tree. It cawed loudly as three more came into view, each cawing simultaneously.

"MOVE!" Ford screamed as he unbuckled himself as opened the passenger door. Everyone scurried out of the car, all except Stan who was motionless inside with his head slumped forward and his fez knocked off. "STANLEY!" Ford shouted as he went back through the passenger door to attempt to drag his twin out. Stan was still buckled and Ford became flustered as he desperately tried to tug at the stuck seatbelt.

"Grunkle Ford!" Mabel screamed as she saw the large monstrous birds begin to claw at Ford's brown trench coat.

A few bright blue blasts were shot at the birds, one squawking as black ink-like blood pulsated from the wounds. Annie held her gun in front of her, her brown eyes deadly calm. The brunette woman began circling around the car, her gun still aimed steadily, as she continued to shoot at the monsters.

Mabel and George crawled through the back seat, George helping sit Stan up so that Mabel could get to the seatbelt easier and unbuckled her great uncle and grabbed for his fez that was on the floor by his feet and the car pedals. Ford then finally managed to drag his twin out of the car with a loud grunt. Just as Ford set Stan on the ground to check his vitals the last bird was killed by Annie, the monster squawking weakly as its life's blood drained from it.

"C'mon, Stan, please be okay…" Ford mumbled to mostly himself as he had his index and middle finger on Stan's neck to check the carotid pulse. Stan's face was badly cut up from the broken glass, a large cut in his hairline staining his silver hair into a bright scarlet, and his skin seemed paler than normal. The old scientist then sighed with relief as he was satisfied that Stan was okay. "He'll be fine… the crash most likely just knocked him out and he has a few cuts and bumps."

"We can't stay out here," Annie pointed out, her voice hard. "It's crawling with demons, those Faux Phoenix aren't the only ones around." She then crouched over and helped Stan sit up, although his head still slumped forward. Ford then assisted her and they began to lead the way toward the abandoned cabin.

Mabel rather not remember her time in that house. The upstairs was filled with broken glass and cobwebs, pictures of a lifetime ago decorating the walls. That part seemed normal for an abandoned cabin, but what lurked in the basement still gave her nightmares.

The group got inside the cabin, George finding large things of rotting wood from tables and end tables to block off the door for anything to get in. Ford and Annie set Stan down, Ford taking off his trench coat and folding it multiple times to make a makeshift pillow to put beneath his unconscious twin's head.

After a minute or two the old conman gave a cough and loud groan as he tried to sit up with a hand to his head. "Ow… son of a bitch…" Stan groaned as Mabel then tackled him with a hug. "OW! Mabel, easy there kiddo…"

"Grunkle Stan, you're okay!" Mabel cried into his suit jacket that he had managed to change in before leaving the Shack.

"Of course I am, Pumpkin!" Stan lightly cheered as he ruffled his great niece's hair.

"This place gives me the creeps…" Pacifica then said, her rubbing her arms gently to warm herself up.

Ford then got up and picked up his trench coat, him unfolding it and putting it back on. "Yes… indeed. Dr. Bartholomew Bartek had done many horrible things here," he commented.

Annie then began to look around the abandoned home, her then taking a few pictures off the walls. "These are pictures of Mom when she was little…" she noted as she read the backs of photos. "There's even a couple with Grandma…"

Ford had made his way to the kitchen, Mabel knowing where he was heading. About a month ago she, Dipper, George, and Pacifica had found the cabin after hearing the strange tale of a missing girl, who happened to be Layla Bartek. Dipper had fallen down an elevator shaft and Mabel and Pacifica had to run back to the Mystery Shack to get Ford and Stan for help. She followed quickly, her remembering that the stairs that led to the first level of the basement no longer had stairs.

"Grunkle Ford, you need my grappling hook," she told him, but he was already down in the basement, Ford had used his magnet gun to get down there. She then aimed at pipe above her, although right next to it was a mummified body with a large spider in its mouth, and shot the hook, it clanging to the pipe. She then lowered herself down, the others following behind her and crawling down the rope.

Ford strolled past the chair that had the machine that places metal plates into people's heads, him heading straight for the other door that led to an elevator to get to the final level. He pried open the door, nothing inside but a cold shaft. Using his magnet gun he lowered himself down, Mabel then using her grappling hook to do the same thing she had done by the destroyed stairs.

As the group made it to the bottom of the shaft, Ford and Annie immediately froze, voices echoing toward them and a soft glow of light. Both of them grabbed the guns from their sides and slowly moved forward, Mabel and everyone else following closely.

"Aw, geez, Rick," a young male voice called out. "A-a-a-are you sure we n-n-n-n-need this stuff?"

There was a loud belch. "Of course, M-Morty!" a much older voice replied. "That b-b-b-bastard had st-st-stolen my shit and hid it!"

"Rick, a-a-a-are you trying to operate that while drunk?"

"I'm always drunk w-w-w-w-when I do other shit! What's the difference now!?"

"Um… good point."

"FREEZE!" Ford then shouted as he rounded a corner, his gun aimed forward with a finger on the trigger.

Mabel managed to see between Ford and Annie. There was an older man with pale looking hair that was spiked up, him wearing a blue shirt underneath a lab coat and brown pants. Next to him was a boy that looked about her age with brown hair wearing a yellow shirt and jeans. The boy seemed to be very frightened as his body was shaking and his breathing was rapid.

The older man, who Mabel guessed was Rick, then squinted his eyes towards Ford. "W-whoa… w-w-w-wait a minute here… Sci-Fi?" he called out confusedly. "Er…" He then belched in midsentence. "I mean, Ford Pines?"

"Huh?" Ford gasped. "Wait… Rick Sanchez…?"

"Holy shit!" Rick then laughed. "I can't believe you're still alive! Wow, I just lost a bet."

"You made a bet that I would die!?" Ford furiously shouted.

"Really, Rick?" the boy that was called Morty yelled. "Y-y-y-you made a bet that a friend of yours was going to die?"

"Morty, I make bets like that all the time." Rick grumbled as he pulled a flask from his lab coat and took a long swig from it. "Th-that's how I make my money. Wh-what? You think all this shit I do is free?"

"Aw, geez…" Morty then sighed as he slumped his head forward. "I wonder how many people you betted that I would die…"

"Actually I betted that you _wouldn't_ die."

Stan then shook his head in confusion. "Wait a minute… ya lost me. Who the hell are you? How do you know my brother? And why is that kid more sweaty and nervous than Dipper?"

Ford then explained, "This is Rick Sanchez, he used to be like a sort-of apprentice for Dr. Bartek."

"Yep," Rick confirmed. "What an ass-hat. Luckily he had a hot daughter." He then took another swig of his drink, ignoring the hard glare from Ford. "B-b-but, I see that at least something happened because _she_ exists." He then pointed at Annie, who took a step back. "Looks like she's got her mother written all over her."

"You… you knew my mom?" Annie asked.

"Yep…" Rick replied as he took another swig of his drink. "She was bitch then, was a bitch in the portal, and wherever she is I bet she is a bitch now."

"Rick, y-y-y-you can't talk about old friends like that!" Morty chastised. "Th-that's an asshole move!"

Rick then belched. "The little shit stain here is my grandson, Morty."

"Hi," Morty waved, him giving a small smile when he saw that Mabel, Pacifica, and George wave back.

Ford then growled, "Rick, why are you even here?"

"I needed some of the research that I helped Bartek with," Rick loosely explained, him then gathering a bunch of old books and heading toward a large UFO-looking vehicle. "That and I heard Magum is in this reality, kinda wanted to see how he was, then zip back to my dimension."

Mabel felt lost. How was Rick from a different dimension if he knew Dr. Bartek in this one?

"You know what… this is actually perfect." Ford commented.

"And how is that, Sci-Fi?"

"You worked with Dr. Bartek with that very portal," Ford told him as he gestured to the large triangular portal that was in the center of the room.

Rick scoffed, "Yeah. So?"

Mabel then stepped forward, her receiving an odd look from Rick. "We need your help to operate it, Magum took my brother! Please help us get him back!"

It seemed that Rick was giving it some thought, but he then shrugged. "No." he simply replied.

"WHAT!?" Stan then screamed. "You worked with this mad doctor and you won't help us get my great nephew back!?"

"Look, sorry about the kid," Rick rudely said as he then grabbed a device from his lab coat that looked similar to a handheld vacuum. "L-l-l-look, tell ya what, I can go to a different reality where you are all dead and he isn't, pluck him out, and put him with you. There, easy."

"EASY!?" Mabel then screeched. "That's my twin brother, you can't just 'pluck' one from somewhere else!"

"H-h-h-he can, actually," Morty stammered. "He ruined my home and basically made me bury my own dead body…"

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING!?" Ford furiously screamed.

"Look, I'm not the same Rick you had dealt with, but I have your Rick's memories because of… past conflict." Rick explained. "But, _fine_ , I will help you with this stupid thing so you all can go kill yourselves to rescue some dumb kid."

Ford stepped forward to Rick. "He isn't just some 'dumb' kid. Dipper is my great nephew who had been possessed by Bill Cipher and then Magum took him away from us."

"Sounds dumb… why is name Dipper?"

"IT'S A NICKNAME!" Stan, Mabel, Pacifica, and George shouted in unison.

Rick then dropped his device. "W-wait… you said that he was possessed by Bill Cipher…?" he asked Ford, him frantically gripping the scientist's shoulders. "Did Cipher bond to that kid's soul!?"

"Yes…" Ford replied grimly.

"Oh, shit…" Rick whispered. "W-w-w-we don't have much time… this has to be the reality where the Axolotl is dead… Is the Axolotl dead!?"

"The Axolotl is dead," Annie confirmed.

"We don't have much time then…"

"What do you mean?" Ford questioned Rick.

"What I mean is that if the Axolotl is dead, then that means that this universe will cease to exist and fall apart."

* * *

 **A/N:** There you have it! Rick and Morty are finally in the story! And the whole thing with Rick, it is actually based off a whole theory I had developed after seeing the season 3 premier of "Rick and Morty" with his "fake backstory". That may become it's own fanfiction in its own entirety.

Thank you for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	6. The Natural Portal

**Chapter 5: The Natural Portal**

Dipper felt his chest burn as he ran alongside Layla Bartek, their footsteps echoing around them in the narrow alleyways that they were dashing through.

"It's going to be difficult to find a new natural portal," Layla then told Dipper as they slowed to a solid wall. "Since the Axolotl is dead the timing is a lot different."

"Timing?" Dipper questioned, clearly confused. "What do you mean timing?"

Layla gave a small huff of annoyance. "The Axolotl was an interdimensional being that had the ability to control portals. It came up with the natural portal openings, all specifically timed. Now that it is dead… the whole timing will be whacked in a sense."

"Oh," was all Dipper could say. It wasn't like he could argue with her, she had many years more experience than him in these strange dimensions.

The world they were in looked like an old decaying city, the buildings looking old and rustic from age and weather. It seemed that the patrons were ignoring them for the most part, but Dipper still kept on his toes.

"We need to get different clothes though, it would be easier to move around in and to change our look a bit." Layla commented as she eyed Dipper's torn suit. "Where the hell were you by the way?"

"Huh?" Dipper squeaked out. "Oh… I was at the Homecoming Dance…"

"Heh…?!" Layla then shrieked, for once Dipper saw that she was the one confused.

"You know… a dance… at the school." Dipper explained lightly. "I was there with my girlfriend, and my twin sister was there with her boyfriend."

A soft look passed over Layla's face. "Twins must run in your family…" she said to him softly.

Dipper nodded. "Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford, myself and Mabel, my mother said her cousins that are her mother's sister's kids were twins, and Grunkle Stan mentioned that his and Grunkle Ford's mother had older sisters who were identical twins…" he explained as he rattled off the facts. It was so odd how both sides of his family had a high probability of twins. Once in a while he and Mabel would joke on which one of them would have twins first when they started their own families.

"Oh, I remember when Annie was born, I was really happy she didn't have a twin…" Layla laughed, almost a little bitterly. It had almost seemed like that she was trying to force a conversation.

Dipper then awkwardly scratched behind his head.

"I can tell those Pines genetics are strong," Layla forcibly joked. "Ford did that a lot. You even look similar to him."

Dipper then stopped scratching and forced his hands to his sides. It wasn't the first time that he was compared to his great uncle or even both of them. Although once in a while he appreciated that he was compared to his family, he rather be known as his own person.

 _Although so far I am known for being a demons possessed kid that murdered God knows how many people…_ He thought bitterly.

"I get that a lot," Dipper replied, him then beginning to pace, something once again that he knew both his great uncles did regularly. "Do… do you happen to have a picture of Annie…?" He was very curious to what his newly discovered cousin looked like.

Layla then darted her eyes for a moment. She then bent down toward her right boot, her pulling the leather material away from her leg and using her free hand to grab something out of the boot. What she pulled out was a slightly crumbled up Polaroid photo.

"Once in a while…" she began. "Something from other dimensions fall through a natural portal and it enters other random ones. One day… I found this camera… I wasn't familiar how it worked, but I took the picture anyway, and it turned out so amazing… the picture printed on the spot too…"

"That's a Polaroid camera…" Dipper lightly and quickly explained. "It was a very popular camera back in the 1970's. My sister uses one a lot… she likes the instant pictures."

Layla rolled her eyes. "Anyway… here is a picture." She then handed the picture to Dipper, who took it gingerly. The picture was a girl that looked to be about twelve years old with long brown, curly hair and big brown eyes. The girl had a slightly upturned nose, a lot like Layla's, that was a touch pink like his own, and she had freckles on her cheeks that were rosy. Despite the sight differences with then nose, eye shape, head shape, and the freckles, the girl that was Annie looked a lot like his own twin sister.

"Holy shit!" Dipper gasped. "She looks like my sister! Or very similar at the least!" He went to his suit jacket, but he realized he didn't have his wallet. He then gave a slight glare at Layla and then held out his hand. Layla's electric blue eyes widened with realization and went back into her boot and pulled out his wallet and gave it to him. "Thank you," he thanked as he opened his wallet and went into the pocket that held cash. Inside was only a few dollars but what he took out to show Layla was something to him that was much more valuable, which were various pictures.

"What's that…?" Layla asked.

"A few pictures of myself and my friends… but mainly my sister." Dipper quickly elaborated as he handed the picture of himself and Mabel when they were twelve years old. It was a copy of the picture that Stan had that was in the basement when he had worked on the portal. The picture had Dipper giving his sister the rabbit ears while she had her eyes darted in different directions and her fingers fish hooking in her mouth and stretching it while her tongue stuck out. "That's when we were twelve."

Layla then compared the photos. "Wow… they do look very similar…" she murmured. "That same curly hair…" It almost looked like she was lost in the comparing of pictures, her eyes looking wet. She then shook her head, as if clearing her vision. "Anyways… we need to get different clothes." She handed back Dipper's picture and started walking away.

Dipper quickly put his picture back in his wallet and into his suit jacket. He scurried after Layla, who seemed to be walking a million miles per hour. Dipper caught up to her pretty quick, his pace matching with hers.

"So… what clothes do you have in mind?" Dipper asked.

"Dark, blend with the shadows," Layla replied instantly.

"So… we try to be in hiding by dressing up like we walked out of a terrible sci-fi movie?"

"Mock it you all you want, but it works!" Layla told him, her grabbing the sleeve of his suit jacket as she pulled him into an alleyway. "Now… there should be an entrance around here somewhere…"

Dipper managed to yank his sleeve away from Layla's clutches. "Wait…" he managed to get out. "You've been in this dimension before…?"

Layla snorted, "Kid, I've been around. It never hurts to have a few stashes."

Layla began feeling her hands against the walls of the alleyway. A few curses escaped her and then suddenly she disappeared through a section of the wall.

"Layla!" Dipper shouted as he rushed to the wall. Just as he made it to the wall, a hand emerged and once again he was grabbed by his sleeve and dragged through the wall. Panic surged through him as for a moment his vision was darkened, but his vision came back just as quickly as he saw that what he entered was a small room. "What… what is this…?"

"An alcove…" Layla absently responded as she rummaged. "Shit… if someone found it…"

"I would be very surprised if there is something here after over thirty years-" Dipper began but he was caught off by Layla's squeal of surprise.

"A-ha! Found it!" she declared as she flipped open a dark colored chest. "Here, there should be something for… ah, here we go!" She then grabbed something thick and black and threw it at Dipper. "Might be a little big on you, but it should be fine."

Dipper looked at the piece of black clothing. It was a large trench coat, it being very similar looking to the one Ford had worn on his way out of the portal. The teenager discarded his torn up suit jacket, secretly thankful as he had felt completely nauseated from wearing it, and put on the oversized trench coat over his white dress shirt and he removed his purple tie. He held the tie for a moment, his thoughts going to Pacifica.

 _She has to be worried…_

"So… who is the lucky girl?" Layla's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Huh?" he grunted, not sure if he heard her right.

Layla gave a laugh as she put her own trench coat on. "I said: Who is the lucky girl?" she repeated.

"Um… her name is Pacifica," Dipper told her, him putting the tie in his pocket. Purple was Pacifica's signature color, him rubbing the silk between his thumb and forefinger in the pocket. "Pacifica Northwest."

"North… west…" Layla pondered softly. "Last name sounds familiar but, oh well." She shrugged. She then tossed Dipper a holster. "Hopefully that can hold the gun."

Dipper then straps the holster to his side and placed the gun into the pocket of it. It fitted perfectly. He was now suited up… for the most part. He still was wearing his black dress pants and shoes, the shoes already pinching his feet from the running.

"Ready to roll?" Layla then asked casually as she put her own gun to the holster strapped to her side. "From what I remember there should be an area where a natural portal will open up."

"But… you said all the timing will be off because of the Axolotl's death!" Dipper exclaimed.

Layla nodded. "Yes… that is true. But, I would rather be there and wait for it to open instead of running around in this God forsaken place." She then began to walk down the alleyway path, forcing Dipper to catch up to her, him nearly tripping over the trench coat that was dragging on the ground.

As the two rounded a corner that lead back into the streets of the dimension they were in they that the streets were filled with people scrambling, them crawling and stepping on each other. They all seemed like they were in some kind of panic.

"What's… going on…?" Dipper asked softly.

A dark look passed over Layla's face. "I can only guess, and I don't want to be right," she grimly replied as she then pushed Dipper back into the darkness of the alleyway.

 _"_ _Now, now,"_ a chilling voice filled the air. _"I am looking for two people, a woman and a young boy."_ There was a light that illuminated into the darkness of the alleyway, however, Dipper could not see because of Layla keeping him back. _"Bring them forth… and maybe you all wouldn't die."_

Dipper then broke away from Layla, him getting into the street just in time to see a large blue portal open up on the ground in the middle of the large crowd of people. Cries of fear and despair rang in unison, children's screams for their mothers mixing in. A large amount of people then fell into the portal with raw screams, their voices echoing in the world. Dipper stood there with his eyes wide.

 _"_ _I assure you all that their death will be filled with unbearable pain and suffering."_

Heads began turning, them seeing Dipper. Whispers erupt around them as fingers and tentacles were pointed at him. Uneasiness crept in Dipper's veins.

"Uh…"

 _"_ _RUN, YOU IDIOT!"_ Layla's voice then screeched as she ran by and grabbed his hand, practically dragging him away from the now stampeding crowd of people chasing them. Both humans panted as Layla rounded corners, trying to lose the crowd behind them.

"Why won't they stand up to him!?" Dipper cried out, his breathing hard.

"Magum Cerebrum is one of the most powerful demons to have ever existed… you think people are just going to 'stand up to him'?" Layla pointed out.

"You and Grunkle Ford did," Dipper told her, causing Layla to grunt in surprise as she rounded a corner to a dead end alleyway.

"Come on… come on…" Layla muttered under her breath, almost seemingly ignoring Dipper. Finally, a small blue portal opened. It was extremely small, it looking like it would barely fit a child. "Great… we have to deal with this on top of that damn demon!?" She then grabbed Dipper and forced him to go toward the portal. "Okay, kid, you first."

Dipper gasped, "Why me!?"

"Because Magum will kill you when he gets you, me he won't!" Layla persisted. "NOW GO!"

Dipper then grabbed her hand as he was pushed through. "Not without you, you've been a prisoner long enough!"

"Wait… what…!?"

The two then yelp as they tumbled into the portal, Dipper feeling his body compress within itself to fit through. His surroundings was nothing but a hazy blue, what seemed like small images flashing through. It was becoming too overwhelming for his mind to handle. His eyes began to flutter shut, a darkness consuming him.

* * *

 _"_ _Pine Tree…"_

"Go away, Bill!"

 _"_ _I can help you defeat Magum…"_

"No way in hell I am trusting you!"

 _"_ _It is the only way-"_

"Of redemption!? Please, spare me the bullshit! I am _never_ going to help you! You'll just use my body and kill people again! I won't allow it!"

 _"_ _You'll find out soon enough, Pine Tree…"_

* * *

He gasped as he opened his eyes, seeing a dark storm looming over as rain poured over him.

Water dripped down his face from the corners of his eyes, making the illusion that he had been crying. He sat up, a hand to his head. Why was Bill Cipher still trying to communicate with him? After all that demon had done he wanted redemption… and there was no way Dipper was going to allow it.

 _Like the old saying goes: A snake is a snake. And in this case: A demon is a demon._

Dipper heard a groan beside him, seeing Layla sprawled out on the wet ground. Her black and gray hair was pasted to her head, her pale skin looking sickly. She managed to sit up, her electric blue eyes wandering around, trying to gather up her surroundings.

"So… do you happen to know where we are?" Dipper asked her gently. The world around was a dull gray as rain fell to the grass, the blades looking like a dark moss green. Mountains were scattered in the horizon, but nothing looked to have civilization.

"… Yeah." Layla responded curtly. The response was too short to Dipper's liking.

"What do you mean…?" Dipper asked, his voice hard.

"I've been here before, and we need to find shelter." Was all Layla said as she started heading toward the mountain range. Dipper had no choice but to follow, so he did.

Layla led them to the mountains, the air becoming thinner as they climbed to reach a suitable height. They found a cave and within a few minutes Layla had found some scrap kindling and managed to make a small, pathetic fire. Dipper warmed his hands to the fire, not caring how small it was and that it couldn't warm his entire body.

"Did something happen in this dimension…?" Dipper suddenly asked, him getting a jump of surprise from Layla after being silent for so long. "You seem like you don't want to talk about it."

Layla sighed. "There is a merchant town close to here actually," the raven-haired woman admitted. "But… I rather not go there."

"Don't we need supplies?"

"Not when I have wanted posters from over thirty years ago still there," she insisted. "That and Ford got shot there over some stupid die…"

 _Die…?_

"An infinite sided die." Dipper stated, knowing full well.

Layla's eyes widened. "H-how did you know that?" she questioned.

"Let's just say that I had an experience with it," Dipper replied, him remembering the very dangerous game of "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons".

There was a sigh from her once again. "Well, he got shot over that damn thing. I had to go get medicine for him… he almost didn't make it."

"How did you get mixed up with Magum in the first place…?" Dipper blurted out, him then covering his mouth with his hands. That wasn't the appropriate time to ask that…

"My father made a deal with him, and it involved me." Layla lowly said, her blue eyes becoming icy as they glared at Dipper, causing him to shiver. "There."

Dipper got the hint: No more questions about her and Magum.

"In the morning we'll both go into that town and get a map of some sort," the young brunette suggested. "That way you can mark all the places you remember that have the natural portals and we can navigate easier."

Layla does a small nod. "I guess… that is logical… I can wear my hooded scarf and hope no one recognizes me. You should wear something too in case Magum starts putting your mug around."

Dipper nodded. "Sounds like a plan," he murmured as he took off his cracked glasses and tried to clean the smudges off of the lens.

He then offered to do the first watch while Layla slept, and with a yawn she agreed. She fell asleep with her back to the wall, the shadows of the small fire dancing off of her face. Dipper then looked to the mouth of the cave to see the rain continue to fall, the sky once in a while flashing with lighting.

Dipper did not want to sleep, that would mean Bill would show up and try to force him to help the demon. The teenager didn't know what Bill's plan truly was, and he wasn't going to find out the hard way.

* * *

 **A/N:** OH MY GOSH I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED! I had went on vacation to Florida for the Star Wars Celebration convention they had going on and I didn't write because of it. And when I came back there was a lot to deal with and I just didn't have it in me to write. This chapter was half written before I left and now almost a month had passed. I am so sorry once again, I will try not to be on such a long hiatus next time without proper warning!

Thank you all for reading as always! And once again I deeply apologize for the long wait for such an anti-climatic chapter...!

~Skye Hendersen~


	7. Help in the Rick of Time

**Chapter 6: Help in the Rick of Time**

Annie heard those words uttered by the man that was named Rick, her body feeling numb.

"Um, excuse me!" Annie then shouted, her waving an arm to get Rick's attention. "What do you mean that this universe will fall apart?"

"Oh-" a burp in midsentence. "-God… another idiot. L-l-l-look, I don't have time to ex-explain things so you're peanut-sized b-b-brain can wrap itself around this," the drunk scientist said. He then moved toward his odd looking UFO car. "E-e-everyone pile in, we gotta get a few things before w-w-we go kill ourselves."

As Rick and Morty got into the car the drunk scientist shot his handheld device toward a wall, a large green portal with swirling energy appearing. Ford followed Rick to the car as the others stood back skeptically.

"Alright… everyone in!" Rick called, his car opening to let the others in, the glass dome opening like a child's toy.

"You have a portal gun…!" Mabel gasped as she pointed at the swirling green portal.

Rick scoffed, "Yeah?"

"Then you can take us to Dipper then!" Mabel cheered happily. "You don't need to help with this giant portal!"

"Mabel, sweetie, it's not that simple," Ford told her gently. "The way portals work is the small ones can go through the sub-dimensions of a large one, like Rick's and the Axolotl's natural opening portals."

Annie nodded, remembering how her mother explained it to her. "Yes. The only way to go to another large dimension is to use a large portal that is at the weakest part of the dimension's wall." Annie then continued for Ford. "The Axolotl does have the ability to make large portals, but only he can do it… well, Magum now."

Rick belched loudly. "T-there's your explanation, kid. Now, before we do anything I need to get some shit from back at my house… so, everyone p-p-pile in!"

Ford got in with Morty, the young teenager getting in with a worried grimace on his face, Annie following close behind. Stan reluctantly followed suit, him giving a nervous glance toward Mabel and gently held her hand, the girl's free hand holding onto George's. Pacifica got in as well, her face twisted with disapproval.

"Can this thing even move?" Pacifica jeered, her green eyes glancing around the things that made the car that had been obviously taken out of trash bins.

"S-s-sure it can," Rick belched as he typed in something on the console. "I built it."

"Um, Rick?" Morty squeaked out, his hands trembling nervously. "I d-d-d-don't think that's going to assure them."

"Why the hell not!?" Rick shouted furiously as he grabbed his flask and took a swig out of it. "I'm a d-d-d-damn genius!"

"One that's drunk…" Morty retorted as he then pushed Rick out of the driver seat. "Just let me drive… Mom and Dad will be furious if they find out you were driving through the multiverse drunk again…"

Rick snapped his fingers. "Right you are, Morty! Gotta keep your mom happy! I can care less about stupid Jerry though… W-w-w-we need to keep going on our a-a-adventures!"

Morty sighed as he pushed a button that caused the glass dome to seal the group in the car. "Yeah, whatever, Rick, whatever you say." The response was snoring, Rick passing out from being drunk.

Ford moved forward, trying to get a better angle at the slumbering drunk scientist. "Does… does he always do that?" he asked the nervous teenager.

"Pretty much," Morty replied as he piloted the car, it levitating from the ground and moving toward the portal. The car became engulfed with the swirling green portal, the world around them becoming slightly disorientated until suddenly appearing in a seemingly happy neighborhood with the sun shining brightly.

"Whoa…!" George gasped as he pressed his face to the glass. "Magum hasn't touched here…?"

"Not yet," Annie grimly responded, her brown eyes taking on the new surroundings.

As a child Annie had loved to explore. She was always sick of staying in the same room, the same building, so when she could go out with her mother she took the opportunity. A few times she would sneak out of the facility and explore on her own, often finding herself in other sub-dimensions. If it weren't for her necklace she would've been lost, it seemed the necklace always led her to where she needed to return to.

 _That was part of the Axolotl's essence that he put in the necklace… he was leading me back to my mother…_

The thought of her mother made a surge of pain hit her heart. Annie missed her mother terribly. Being this long away from her reminded the young woman on how her mother would be gone days at a time and return severely injured and limping.

 _I'm okay dear…_ her mother's voice whispered in her mind. It was always what she would say when she returned.

Annie then shook her head and came back into reality just in time for Morty to land the car inside a typical looking garage. Morty then opened the glass dome and got out of the vehicle, him hitting a button on the side of the garage and watching as counters lowered into the floor and new ones filled with guns, parts, scrap metal, and small robots littering the tabletops.

"Welcome to the Smith-Sanchez household," Morty greeted, him gesturing to the garage. "This is Rick's workspace… he calls it his lab."

Ford had gotten out of the car and wandered around the "lab". "Hm, impressive… given on what you have around…" he commented.

Rick then grunted and woke up, taking another swig of his flask. "Y-y-y-yeah, yeah, whatever…" he grunted absently as he made his way to the door that entered the house. "J-j-j-just stay here for a minute… I g-g-g-gotta get something from my room." Just as he opened the door a man was in the doorway with brown hair and eyes and wearing a green shirt with two different colored brown stripes going across his chest and him wearing simple jeans.

"There you are, Rick!" the man shouted furiously. "Where the hell have you been!? Beth and I have been so worried! We tried calling that alien phone you gave us and there was no answer! What would've happened if Morty got hurt!?"

Rick just stood there with a bored expression, him drinking from his flask occasionally.

" _And_ you're drinking, of course you are!" the man continued with a huff. "You know, you're the reason why Beth has a drinking problem too!"

"The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," Rick replied nonchalantly. "Now, if you w-w-w-will just step aside, I have to get some shit."

"No! You're living in my house rent free and took over my garage!" the man screamed. "I will not be belittled in my own home!"

Mabel then leaned over toward Annie and whispered, "This is like a T.V. drama…"

"Never saw one," Annie hastily whispered back.

The man then peered around Rick, seeing that there were more people in the garage. "And who the hell are these people?! Why are you always bringing strangers to my house!?"

"They're not aliens, Jerry," Rick assured. "They're humans from another dimension and they n-n-n-need my help because a magic lizard is dead and a douchebag of a demon lizard took a kid."

Jerry blinked his eyes in confusion. "Wha-?"

"I don't have time for your shit, Jerry." Rick growled as he pushed his way past the man and entered the house. Morty followed quickly behind Rick, the boy giving a soft hello before entering the house, the boy immediately going to the stairwell and ascending it, only to come down a few seconds later with a few comics and rushed back towards the garage.

Ford decided to follow in as well, him giving a greeting to Jerry, while Annie stayed close to Ford. The rest of the group followed suit, Jerry looking at each person with a blank expression. It was as if he could not process what was going on. Morty then took the others and gave them a small tour of the home, only for a few minutes and lead them back into the garage.

Once Ford and Annie entered the kitchen they saw a young redhead sitting at the kitchen table with a pink top and white pants fiddling on a cellphone, her expression bored. At the end of the table a blonde was reading off of a tablet with a glass of red wine in hand. They both looked up from their devices, the redhead giving a groan of annoyance before slouching more into her seat and tapping her phone screen.

"Um… hello…?" Ford nervously greeted, him waving a hand.

"Are you Grandpa Rick's friends?" the redhead asked, her not even bothering to look up from her phone.

"Sort of," Ford admitted, him giving the "I-Don't-Know" hand gesture.

Rick then entered the kitchen, him holding a brown sack that was no doubt filled with various items. "A-a-a-alright, I should have everything I need…" he muttered to himself as he passed the blonde.

"Dad, where were you and Morty?" the blonde questioned, her tone hard.

"Gravity Falls, Oregon in a different reality," Rick replied quickly as he tied the sack closed.

"Never heard of it," the blonde absently said as she tapped on her tablet.

Ford then gave the blonde another look over. "Beth," he said simply. "You're Beth."

Beth snapped her head up. "How do you know my name?" she demanded, her brows furrowing furiously.

Ford put his hands up in surrender. "I saw a picture of you of when you were a baby, Rick showed it to me!" he quickly explained.

Beth then glanced at her father. "Dad…?"

"Y-y-y-yeah, I did." Rick assured her as he headed toward the garage. Ford gave a wave goodbye and followed Ford, Annie following close behind.

"You lied to her," Ford hissed to Rick lowly.

"Not really…" Rick explained. "In the reality that a version of me that met you I did do that, that's how you know Beth."

Annie then remembered what Rick had said that he wasn't the same Rick that her father had met. "You had said that you're a different version that met my dad…" Annie commented, her brown eyes narrowing. "Did you kill the other version or something…?" She was suspicious of the man that was before her, how did she know that he could be trusted?

Like her mother always said: _Trust no one._

Rick sighed, "I myself went to that reality to find some kind of crystal that was only in that reality of Gravity Falls and that version of me got killed terribly once he escaped Magum's dimension. What I do when I encounter something like that is that I try to transfer memories from the dead one to myself so I can gain the knowledge of the dimension I am in." The drunk scientist shrugged. "S-s-s-sounds morbid, I know, but that's how I survive."

"Then why were you back in our reality when we found you if you were there a few decades before?" Annie then asked.

"I'm tweaking my portal gun and I remembered that the Bartek house had some of my shit in it still," Rick shrugged. "M-m-m-man, kid, you're just observant aren't ya? A-a-a-always asking questions…"

"Where I grew up you had to observe or you could get killed," Annie replied flatly.

The house suddenly shook, knocking off knick-knacks off of shelves and pictures off of walls. A loud beeping raged through the house, a red light filling the room. Beth and the redhead teenager rushed behind Rick, seemingly knowing what to do in that situation. Jerry was on the floor in the hallway that lead to the stairwell, him in the fetal position.

"What the hell did Morty do now…!?" Rick screamed as he finally pushed open the door that lead to the garage.

Once in the garage that same creatures that were at the school were crawling all over the garage, the kids and Stan inside the car while the monsters rocked it back and forth. Fire was spreading around, the flames a bright red, a demonic red.

"Oh, shit…!" Rick cried out as he dropped his sack and went inside his lab coat, grabbing some kind of laser pistol.

"Aw geez, Rick!" Morty shouted, his hands to his head. "W-w-w-what the hell are these things!?"

"They were the same creature that took Dipper…!" Ford exclaimed as he reached to his side and pulled out his interdimensional gun.

Annie did the same, her already aiming for the creatures. From her past experience with them the creatures seemed to very resilient to the blasts. She didn't have time to ponder and debate whether or not to use her weapon, the dome that covered the car was beginning to crack, her seeing Mabel's eyes widen with fear.

The three opened fire on the monsters, black ink-like blood splattering to the garage floor. One roared as it left the car and headed toward the trio. Rick managed to sidestep, the monsters claws ripping through the wooden door that lead back into the house. Beth and the redhead immediately ran the opposite way, heading toward a room at the end of the hall,

"Beth, take Summer and Jerry to my room!" Rick ordered as he ran to the back of the creature and shot a blast to the back of its head. "There is a button underneath that pullout bed, press it and it will take you to a bunker underneath the house!"

"You put another secret chamber under my house!?" Jerry screamed, his fear of the monsters suddenly evaporating.

"Jerry, shut the hell up and do what he says!" Beth shouted at her husband as she took her daughter's hand and rushed down the hallway and disappeared into a room. Jerry gave Rick another hard glare as he rushed after his wife and daughter.

Annie rushed toward the car, her jumping on the back of one of the monsters, it roaring and trying to claw at its back to get her off. Annie managed to wrap her arms around the neck, her gun pointing at the face of the monsters. She pulled the trigger furiously, the blood soaking through the sleeves of her trench coat and staining her pale skin. The monster then finally started to collapse forward, its bloodied head sliding down the glass dome of the car, leaving a streak of black blood behind.

Ford and Rick double teamed on the last one that was toward the front of the car. Rick had then pressed a button inside his lab car.

 _"_ _Protect Morty and company,"_ the car seemed to say in a female robotic voice. Guns then appeared from compartments from the side and blasted at the monster, lasers shooting through easily and hitting the walls to enter the house. _"Morty and company safe. Thank you for choosing Rick's car. Goodbye."_

Sprinklers then finally went off, water falling to the flames and extinguishing them. Once the monsters had been killed the red demonic flames had then turned into normal fires. In a matter of a few minutes the flames were gone, the garage littered with dead monsters and wet ashes.

"Magum must've sent them…" Annie stated, her putting her gun back to her side. "Those are direct minions of his since he ate the Axolotl's heart."

"We need to get back to your g-g-g-guy's Gravity Falls," Rick ordered, him opening the glass dome to enter, seeing the rest of the Pines family with wide eyes. "If those things were here-"

"-then they might be at the portal destroying it!" Pacifica then finished for him, her green eyes widening in panic. "We have to protect it or we can't save Mason!"

Rick raised his unibrow in confusion. "I t-t-thought the kid was 'Dipper'?" he asked confusedly.

"Mason is real name," Stan quickly explained. "Now drive this damn thing back home so we can fix the stupid portal!"

"What the hell do y-y-y-you know about portals, Fez-Head?" Rick snapped.

Stan just gave him a flat look. "Really? I'm not explaining it. Screw you." The conman deadpanned.

Rick rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He muttered as he picked up his sack that he had and threw it in the car before getting into the driver seat. "Yo, Sci-Fi and Miss Gloom and Doom, get in the d-d-d-damn car so we can go!"

Ford and Annie jumped into the car, the dome closing over them. Rick then took out his portal gun and shot it toward the wall, a large green circle appearing.

"What about your family?" Ford then asked, him suddenly remembering them running down the hallway.

Rick began driving his car to the portal. "They'll be a lot safer down in that bunker…" he assured. "There is enough supplies to last them three wars. They'll be fine."

The car then went through the portal as Rick then cheered, "And that's the _waaaaay_ the news goes!"

"What!?" was all Stan shouted as the car left Rick and Morty's dimension.

* * *

 **A/N:** Alright guys, hopefully this makes up for being gone for so long!

I tried to write this a little bit like a "Rick and Morty" episode, especially the way that Rick would interact with the family and some humor. I don't think I really hit the nail on the head though, but it has some elements to it.

Thank you all for reading as always! All the support is really appreciated!

~Skye Hendersen~


	8. The Return

**Chapter 7: The Return**

Dipper sat by the pitiful fire, his face bouncing with shadows as he stared into the flame.

 _Can't… fall asleep…_

He was very tired, ever since entering the multiverse he had been extremely tired to the point if he really wanted to that he could fall asleep at any point. It was as though he was fighting against himself, something that he has felt before when at home when he felt hopeless. Most of the time he wants to end the pain, the constant feeling of hopelessness of him ever getting better. But he knew that it wasn't an option, he had to be there for his family and friends.

 _Pine Tree…_

"Go away, Bill…" Dipper whispered furiously to himself, once again hearing the voice of the demon. He began to rock himself back and forth, the movement only making him even more tired. He stopped immediately, gripping his hands in his hair as he clenched his teeth, hearing maniacal laughter and seeing blood before him.

 _We need to work together, Pine Tree…_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Dipper screamed tearfully, his hands automatically reaching toward his side to grab the gun that Layla had given him. He put the gun to his head, the finger on the trigger as he panted heavily.

"STOP!" Layla's voice cried out as she practically tackled him and knocked the gun from his hand. "What the hell is wrong with you!? Why would you do that!? Especially since you have your family that cares about you!"

Dipper looked at her with large brown eyes that were filled with tears. "I-I… I just want him out…" he sobbed, his body shaking as Layla helped him up, clearly keeping the gun away from him.

"Who…?" Layla inquired, her black brows furrowed curiously and her electric blue eyes worried.

"Bill…" was all the boy said, noticing how it looked like Layla just died where she sat and resurrected with a microwave.

"Bill…" she whispered. " _Bill Cipher_ …!?" she then shouted as she gripped Dipper's shoulders. "Are you nuts!? What do mean _Bill Cipher_!?"

Dipper's heart pounded in his chest. The way Layla was acting was almost eerily similar to how Ford reacted when Dipper and the other discovered Dr. Bartek's portal in the basement. She was terrified, he can tell.

"When Weirdmageddon happened," Dipper began shakily, him putting a hand to his chest.

"Ugh… he went with _that_ name!?" Layla interrupted, rolling her eyes.

"When Weirdmageddon happened," Dipper began again. "Grunkle Ford made a deal with Bill to keep Grunkle Stan, Mabel, and myself safe. Bill… basically took over the world and made Grunkle Ford do terrible things. It was a nightmare to travel for a year and a half in just a crappy RV fighting monsters and trying to gather supplies. We discovered that we could retrieve tapestries that Bill had imprisoned the others from the wheel and save them so we could defeat him.

"During that time… Bill had come to me to say he wanted me to be the next vessel. I refused… I didn't like it when he possessed my body when I was twelve so I didn't want to experience that again. He only gave me a couple of weeks to make the decision. In order to persuade me to join him… he hurt Mabel…

"She was dying… I had to save her. So I made the deal with Bill. I became his puppet… Oh, God… I still remember all the blood… all those screams…" Dipper then put his face in his hands. "Oh, God… there were kids… just little kids! Slaughtered like cattle by my hand… I still have nightmares..." He trailed off, him hyperventilating as he began seeing blood behind his tightly shut eyes.

An embrace then went around him, his eyes opening with shock. Layla was hugging him tightly, like a mother consoling a child. She gently rocked him very motherly, trying to calm him down.

"It's terrible to hear that a demon would do that to a child…" Layla murmured to him. "Such a young soul bounded to a demon's…"

"Y-you know about s-s-soul bounding…?" Dipper gasped, the tear still dripping down his face.

"I know a thing or two…" Layla admitted.

"Bill is still there…" Dipper cried out. "They erased my mind to try to get rid of him but he is still in my soul… I want him out…"

"We'll figure it out," Layla assured him. "But first Magum has to be dealt with. Like Bill he has his own wheel." Layla then let go of Dipper gently, seeing how he was balled up within himself like a scared child. She then grabbed a stray stick that was away from the fire and began to draw in the dirt. "Magum with his wheel has ten people that represent the symbols that are on it." She then drew symbols that Dipper immediately recognized: A pine tree, a shooting star, a llama, a six-fingered hand, and a crescent shape. She then drew five more symbols that were completely new to him: an oak leaf, an acorn, an arrow, a flask, and a heart.

"Well, I already know half of these symbols," Dipper told Layla as he pointed at the first five. "I'm Pine Tree. My sister is the Shooting Star, Grunkle Ford is the hand, Grunkle Stan is the crescent, and Pacifica is the llama."

Layla glanced at him, surprised that he said that. "Well, Ford's makes sense…" she admitted.

"But we still have to find the other symbols…" Dipper pointed out.

"I'm the oak leaf," Layla stated. "My last name is 'Bartek', which is a name of a very famous oak tree in Poland. Annie is the acorn as acorns are the seeds from an oak tree. The flask I have a very good guess. But the arrow and the heart… I'm not sure."

The rain had finally stopped falling outside, the sky still a dark navy with thick dark clouds going over the moon. Layla peaked her head out and saw in the distance that there was a small light source.

"Okay… we need to get some supplies," she told him. "You know how to steal and sneak stuff?"

Dipper scoffed, "Please, I'm being raised by a professional conman."

"Conman…?" Layla questioned, clearly confused.

"Grunkle Stan," Dipper informed.

" _Oh_ …" Layla drew out, understanding. "I'm glad that Ford and Stan are getting along again…"

"Yeah, they're pretty close now. When Ford first came out of the portal though he did punch Stan…"

"God damn it, Ford…" Layla growled. "Tell me something… was it Stanley that worked on the portal and got Ford out?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, I'm gonna _slap_ him for always ragging on Stanley!"

"You… and Grunkle Ford talked about Grunkle Stan?"

"Well, yeah. Mostly good things, but when Ford talked about his twin's intelligence I yelled at him about it."

The subject was dropped quickly as Layla stomped on the fire to put it out. She then confiscated Dipper's gun and put it in her trench coat. When Dipper demanded why she took it away she simply said it was because he couldn't be trusted with it until they were in combat.

They traveled down the damp road, heading toward the source of light. Where there was light there was a market, and where there was a market there was things to take. They made it to the small town, and immediately Layla had went rigid.

Posters were plastered everywhere, mainly of younger pictures of Layla and Ford. The contents were all written in a different language but Dipper could tell that there were wanted signs. A few posters were even of a different man with squinted eyes and clearly drinking out of a flask.

"Huh… there's a few of Rick Sanchez too…" Layla commented as she past a poster of him. She had put the hood up of her trench coat, her taking a scarf or two from unknowing merchants and wrapping them around her face to disguise herself.

Dipper had no wanted posters, so he stayed the same. He looked around the market, seeing that there were so many different kinds of beings and patrons. Many were large insect looking beings, the insects looking similar to large praying mantises and cockroaches. A few looked extremely alien with dark purple skin and large heads.

"This isn't good…" Layla muttered as she passed a table which Dipper immediately stopped at.

"Wow! They have 'Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons' stuff here!?" Dipper exclaimed, him seeing the various boards and dies.

"Oh God… not you too!" Layla cried out as she face palmed herself.

The merchant that ran the table had glanced up and then went back to his paper he was reading. The merchant then did a double take as if he recognized Dipper and pushed something form underneath the table. A loud alarm blared as a light that was nearby glowed a brilliant red.

"W-w-w-what's going on!?" Dipper shouted as he tried to back away from the table, him bumping into something that was behind him.

"This is the same bazar that Ford had stolen the infinite sided die!" Layla quickly explained as she dodged a grab from a security guard.

Dipper turned around and saw that there were three of them behind him, all looking like some kind of grasshopper/fly hybrid. "Oh… shit…!" Dipper gasped as he tried to sidestep away. Guns were then pointed at him, Dipper becoming still as a statue.

"By the order of Galactic Federation you are under arrest!" one of the guards ordered, him holding poster that had Ford's picture on it.

"T-t-that's not me!" Dipper tried to explain.

Layla was brought next to him by another guard, the creature removing her scarves and showing that she was from the poster. She began speaking in a string of a different language that Dipper didn't recognize, and she was the smacked across her face with the butt of the gun that a guard had pointed at her.

"Oh, really? Oh, my mistake!" the guard told Dipper sarcastically. "Do you know how many illegal plastic surgeons there are in the multiverse? This is the worse I have ever seen!"

"The hell are you talking about!? My name is Dipper Pines!" the teenager screamed, but he then immediately covered his mouth.

"Execute!" one guard ordered as the others cocked their guns with notable clicks.

"W-w-wait!" Dipper cried out, his hands up in surrender.

They didn't listen as they open fired. Each laser blast hit Dipper square in his chest and in the middle of his face. Bright scarlet erupted from his as he felt the hot liquid spill over him. Layla screamed loudly, seeing the blast riddle the boy as he collapsed onto the ground with a loud thump. The guards stopped shooting, them satisfied.

"D-Dipper!" Layla cried out. "He was just a kid! You killed an innocent kid!" she screamed at the guards.

There was then a chilling laugh, a laugh that seemed to fill the whole bazar. The shoppers and merchants stopped what they were doing and stared in the general direction of the guards, Layla, and Dipper's collapsed body.

"I… I _know_ that laugh…" Layla barely whispered, her sounding breathless and panicked.

Dipper's body then slowly go up from the ground, the wounds that he had received beginning to close. Another laugh escaped him as a wicked smile spread across his face, his white teeth being stained scarlet by his own blood. The boy then opened his eyes, revealing the sclera being a pale golden yellow and his pupil nothing but a slit.

 _"_ _Guess who's back!?"_ the shrill voice of Bill Cipher escaped Dipper, him becoming Bipper once again. Another laugh escaped him as he raised a hand, the hand covered in a brilliant blue flame.

Layla looked terrified as she escaped the grip of her guard, her backing into a large stall's wall. Her eyes were round as saucers and she looked as though this was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.

"FIRE!" the leader of the guards barked. Laser blast flew at the boy with blinding speed.

A blue fire enveloped the boy, shielding him from the blasts. _"Oh, please,"_ the demon possessed teenager chastised. _"You think that's going to stop me?"_ He then threw a blue fire ball at one of the guards, the guard immediately setting aflame and screamed loudly in pain as its insect exoskeleton disintegrated away to black ash.

The other guards dropped their weapons and tried to run, but they were suddenly frozen in place with blue fire around them. They screamed and pleaded to be released, but Bipper walked slowly up to them as a brilliant silver sword appeared in his hands.

 _"_ _Let's see… how should I do this?"_ Bipper asked himself. _"Oh! I got it!"_ He then took the sword and sliced off the head of one of the guards, a brilliant green liquid spewing like a fountain from the wound. The other guards screamed and the people of the bazar tried to escape the scene. _"NOT SO FAST!"_ Bipper shrilled as he snapped his fingers and the bodies of each shopper and merchant combusted into blue flames. Screams flooded the bazar, screams of pain, fear, and prayers to some god to let them go to a better place.

Bipper then sliced off the other heads of the guards, their heads rolling onto the ground. One head rolled by Layla's feet, whose eyes were wide with terror, her putting her hands to her mouth to stifle a scream.

Laughter erupted from Bipper, his hands to his stomach. _"Well, well, well, it's good to be back!"_ he insanely laughed. His body suddenly jerked and stumbled, blood dripping from his nose and the corners of his eyes. _"Pine Tree…"_ "GET OUT!" He fell to the ground, immediately beginning to vomit, the boy gagging and gasping for air.

Layla slowly approached Dipper. "Dipper…?" she slowly called out. It looked as though she was truly scared of him, her having a hesitant hand out to try to touch him.

"I'm so sorry!" Dipper sobbed loudly, his tears mixing with the blood. "I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to kill them!"

Layla stopped moving towards Dipper, a dark shadow over her face. "That's why Magum wanted you… he knew you have the powers of Bill Cipher…" she lowly confirmed. "Maybe… if you truly want to be free… you should turn yourself in to Magum and be killed." Regret flashed in her eyes. "No… I didn't mean that…"

"I can't die…" Dipper told her through choking sobs. "As long as Bill is bounded to my soul he will keep me alive… You saw what just happened, those blasts didn't do shit! I have stabbed myself multiple times, trying to kill myself, but _I can't die!_ "

"We need to get out of here before reinforcements arrive," Layla quickly said as she went around the bazar and grabbed supplies and a bag. She stuffed all she could in a bag and then a second one. She tossed one full bag to Dipper. "Come on, Dipper, we need to get somewhere safe."

"A-a-aren't you scared of me…?" Dipper asked tearfully.

"Terrified," Layla admitted. "But… you're still a kid, you have no control. We need to come up with a plan to get back to Earth, your family still loves you and want you back with them."

"They're better off without me…"

"No, they're not." Layla said firmly. "We're all going to help you, Magum and Bill will be defeated."

Dipper looked doubtful. "I don't know…"

Layla then offered him a hand. "Come on… let's go somewhere safe."

Dipper then looked at her hand, seeing that it was her left with the missing thumb and pinky. Firmly, he grasped it.

"Okay. And… thank you."

* * *

 **A/N:** This was a pretty intense chapter, so I hope you guys like it! It's pretty much a throwback to "Cipher's Reign"! Expect some more action like that!

Thank you all for reading and all the support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	9. Rebuilding

**Chapter 8: Rebuilding**

The car that carried the group went through the swirling green portal, the scenery changing from the destroyed garage to an even more destroyed scene.

"What the hell happened here!?" George had shouted, him seeing the carnage that was now in Dr. Bartek's basement.

The portal that had looked untouched for almost fifty years was now in shambles, deep claw marks tearing through the metal as if it were made of paper. Wires hung from the ceiling, sparks of electricity shooting out every one in a while. Metal beams and were atop of one another, dented and crumpled. Glass laid shattered on the ground, small flames of red fire in patches around stacks of paperwork.

"L-l-l-l-looks like Magum sent those things here too," Rick guessed as he took a large swig of alcohol from his flask.

"You really didn't change have you, Rick?" Ford snapped at the drunk scientist as he swatted the flask away. "You're still the same old drunk as ever."

"Many versions of myself are," Rick lowly commented. "The ones that don't drink excessively are the crazy ones."

Mabel rolled her eyes and climbed out of the strange vehicle, her heart then breaking when she realized that there was now no way of saving her brother.

Dipper was simply gone…

"No…" her voice cracked as she looked at the destroyed portal. "How are we supposed to get Dipper now?"

Ford had stepped next to her, him looking over the destroyed structure. "What we can do is rebuild the portal… We can use what Rick knows from Dr. Bartek's design and use mine as well," he suggested, a hand to his chin as he pondered.

Rick gave a cough as he stepped next to Ford. "It does seem like a good idea…" he admitted. "T-t-t-the thing is we would need someone to stay on this side of the portal for operation." He then belched as he walked over to the destroyed console. "I-I-If we have the portal open for at least forty-eight hours it should be enough t-t-t-time to find that kid with the help of a DNA sample." He then took yet another flask from his lab coat and took a swig. "I-I-I can build that DNA tracker easily."

Mabel glanced at Ford, seeing her great uncle ponder on a deep thought. "Fiddleford…!" the old scientist suddenly said with great realization. "He knows the engineering of the portal we had built inside and out! He can help us rebuild this and be the operator."

Stan made a hiss sound. "Are ya sure he'd do it though?" he asked gently, skepticism heavy in his voice. "I mean, yer guys' portal kinda drove him into insanity."

"It's the only chance we have!" Ford persisted with a growl. "Now… he should be at the Shack… I'll go and convince him to join us." Stan scoffed but Ford ignored him. "You guys stay here and gather anything that is salvageable for the portal."

Mabel watched as Ford made his way to the elevator shaft to use his magnet gun to propel himself upwards. The brunette teenager then ran after him, her catching up to him quickly. "Grunkle Ford!" she cried out to get his attention.

Ford then stopped and turned around. "Mabel…? Is there something that you need before I go?" he asked her softly, his brown eyes warm towards her.

"May I go with you?" Mabel pleaded, brown eyes round and wide. "Please… maybe if I ask Ol' Man McGucket he won't be so quick to turn down!"

Ford's eyes turned hard has he folded his arms. "What makes you think he's going to reject my proposal?" he questioned harshly.

"Because you're the one that made him work on the damn portal by doing your stupid expeditions to get the materials for it causing him to build a memory wiping gun and create a cult and go insane." Mabel quickly deadpanned, her eyes narrowed.

Ford opened his mouth and then closed it, clearly not sure how to make a comeback. "Okay… you got me there. Fine, Mabel, you can come." Ford agreed swiftly as he continued his way to the elevator shaft. "Now let's get moving." Before he shot his magnet gun with Mabel in tow another figure approached him. "Annie!?" Ford gasped. "W-w-what are you doing here?"

"Coming with you," Annie stated as if it were obvious. "You may need some fire power with those demons out there, and who else besides yourself have an interdimensional gun?"

"Rick."

"Well, I don't like him," Annie huffed, her rolling her eyes.

"You're mother doesn't either…"

"But I think it may also be good for our relationship," Annie then continued. "Nothing says Father-Daughter bonding by killing a bunch of demons!" She tried to sound enthusiastic, but it fell quite short. She looked slightly embarrassed for saying it and she nervously scratched behind her head, a habit Mabel knew that Ford, Stan, and especially Dipper did.

Ford stiffened for a moment, but he then nodded slowly. "Of course, Annie, welcome aboard," he told her.

Mabel's heart pounded with excitement and happiness. She didn't see much interaction between Ford and Annie, and from what she did see was mostly discussing what needs to be done. But when they fought side by side, they did look like a Father-Daughter Team, so it was good to see them together in some way.

As Mabel watched she saw how Ford explained to Annie about how to use the magnet gun. The older girl's eyes widened with excitement at the technology that was presented to her. She enthusiastically grabbed the gun and aimed it up the elevator shaft and shot it, propelling herself upwards. A worried looked passed over Ford's face, but after a moment a smile spread on his face.

Mabel then took out her grappling hook. "Care to use something primitive?" she offered with a small chuckle.

Ford took the grappling hook gingerly from her as she wrapped her arms around Ford's waist. He shot the hook into the air and it hooked onto one of the metal supports. Soon the two were propelled up back to the main basement where they followed Annie to where the broken stairwell where it lead to the main part of the old cabin in the woods.

Once inside the house, Annie had taken the opportunity to glance around. The woman looking at the dusty pictures on the walls and the discarded books. She took a few off of the walls, her fingers grazing over the layers of dust.

"Annie…?" Ford called to her, her head snapping up as she put the picture back. "We'll come back for those… okay?" he then told her.

Annie gave a nod, a small smile on her face.

"Come along, you two," Ford then told both Annie and Mabel. "We need to get to the Shack at least before sunset, then if we can come back here before dark that would be fantastic."

The trio exited the old cabin, the sky above them an ugly mixture of red and brown, those birds that had attacked them before circling in the sky cawing. Ford had taken his gun out, prepared for the worse, and Annie did the same. Mabel always carried her grappling hook, it was almost religious, and she kept a self-defense knife on her as well, so she took that out and held it in her hand tightly.

Grass crunched beneath their feet as they marched through the woods. They couldn't take the car as it was still crashed against a tree, the engine crushed within itself. So, Ford led on, his eyes glancing around almost with paranoia. Nothing was really around them, the woods still and eerily quiet except for the sound of the demon birds cawing.

Mabel felt her heart pound in her chest, she didn't like the quiet. At least when Bill had taken over there were growls and some animals. But here… it felt like everything and everyone was dead.

After an hour of walking the Shack finally came into view, it one-hundred percent intact. A few of those birds tried to get to the Shack but a large bubble-like barrier surrounded it, the monsters bouncing off.

"We just to run inside the barrier and they won't hurt us," Ford informed. "So, we need to move fast." Both Mabel and Annie nodded and prepared themselves. "On the count of three: One… Two… Three!"

The trio sprinted out of the woods, their eyes on the Shack. Caws were screeched overhead and Mabel felt something grazer her hair. Her heart pounded painfully, her hearing her blood roar in her ears. Finally she hit the barrier and was through, her practically collapsing as she tried to catch her breath, seeing the birds crash into the barrier.

Annie nearly collapsed next to her, but she forced herself to stand up straight, catching her breath. Ford looked to be fine, him getting to the door of the Shack as quickly as possible.

Ford opened the door with Annie and Mabel right behind him, inside a few gasps were heard. The lights were off, so Ford flipped them on, screams filling the room.

"Calm down, everyone!" Ford shouted. "It's just us."

"Where is everyone else…?" Wendy's voice called out.

"They're still at Bartek's cabin," Ford replied. "Now… has anyone seen Fiddleford?"

There was laughter suddenly and the old man stepped forward, him slouched over and his long white beard dragging on the floor. "Here I am!" he shouted as he slapped his knee.

"Old Man McGucket!" Mabel then cried out as she rushed to the old man. "We need your help desperately!"

"Desperately?" McGucket mused. "F-f-for what…?"

"We need Dr. Bartek's portal to be operational… and you have the engineering skills to assist us." Ford then explained, his eyes widening as he noticed his old friend frantically backing up towards a wall.

"W-w-w-what!? N-n-n-n-no!" the old man shouted. "I-I-I-I can't…! Not again...!"

"Fiddleford…" Ford tried to say, but his old friend kept shouting as he put his hands to his head, "I can't! T-t-t-t-there is so much danger! S-s-s-so many monsters!"

Mabel then stepped over to McGucket and then gave him a hug, calming the old man down. "I know it's scary… I know you had a bad experience with the one you made with Grunkle Ford… but we need your help… it's the only way to get to Dipper."

"D-D-Dipper…?" McGucket gasped softly. "Dipper… That kid doesn't deserve any more misfortune…" He then raised his head and looked Mabel in the eyes. "I'll do it. I'll help ya with the portal so Dipper can be saved."

"Thank you…" Mabel tearfully replied as she gave him a tighter hug.

"The portal has to be open for at least forty-eight hours," Ford then explained to McGucket. "So, we need you to operate it from the outside while we are inside."

"Gotcha!" McGucket cheered, a look of determination on his face.

"I'll help him out!" Wendy then shouted, her hand raised. She stepped forward through the small crowd in the Shack and stood next to McGucket. "I'll help him out with it, protect him in case something major happens."

"I second that!" Soos' voice was heard, him stepping forward as well with Melody and Gideon in tow. "I'll help him too."

"As will I," Melody inserted.

"I will help out in any way I can." Gideon then said, him looking a little nervous.

Mabel's heart fluttered with all of the support. "Thank you guys so much!" she cried as she threw her arms around Gideon for a hug. She did the same for Wendy, Soos, and Melody as well. "You have no idea how much-"

"Don't sweat it, hambone." Soos told her. "Dipper is family, I'd do anything for him."

"Same here," Wendy added. "You two are like extra little siblings, and one is actually a sister." She then gave Mabel a wink.

"Thank you…" Mabel sobbed as tears dripped down her cheeks.

"I appreciate all of you dearly," Ford then said. "Now, we should head back their before night falls. I rather not deal with monsters and demons at this point."

There was a group nod as they prepared to leave the Shack. Wendy made sure she had her axe and Ford let McGucket down in the basement to get tools that he would possibly need. Gideon fiddled with something in his pocket, and when Mabel inquired on what it was Gideon had just said that it was a good luck charm. Soos and Melody put together a first-aid kit to take with, both of them with a handgun strapped to their sides.

"Ready to go?" Ford called out.

"Wait a second…!" Mabel shouted as she ran through the hallway Stan's room.

Ever since Dipper began his first major episode Stan and Ford had taken all of the guns and put them in a safe that was under Stan's bed. Mabel pulled it out and dialed in the combination, it opening swiftly. Inside was the handgun that she had used before when they were traveling, Stan's and Dipper's were in it there too. And inside was Dipper's favorite sniper rifle, Mabel wasn't as good with a sniper rifle but she knew Pacifica was and that she could probably use it. Mabel then shut the safe and dragged it out to the entryway where the others were waiting.

"Might come in handy…" Mabel huffed as she dragged the safe.

"Mabel… that's too heavy-" Ford began but stopped talking when Soos just simply lifted the safe from the ground with little to no effort. "Alright then… let's go."

* * *

It was just starting to get dark when they all arrived back to Dr. Bartek's cabin.

Mabel set up her grappling hook for people to shimmy down the rope in both areas to get to the bottom basement with the portal. Down in the basement there were large piles of metal and scrap metal that was able to be salvaged, the group sitting by it.

"Hey, there you guys are!" George greeted excitedly as she rushed over and gave Mabel a quick hug. "What took you guys so long…?"

"We got some extra help." Mabel told him as Soos, Melody, Gideon, and Wendy appeared with McGucket.

Gideon gave a small wave as he drawled in his Southern accent, "We're here to help at any cost!"

Rick then belched in the distance as he and Morty dropped down a pile of electrical wires. "A-A-A-Alright you little bitches, i-i-i-it's time to get to work!"

McGucket put on his glasses with the green lenses in them and made his way to the pile of metal. "Hmmm…. We are gonna need a bit more than this…" he commented as he lifted a small metal beam.

"We can get it," George volunteered. "It'll also give us an opportunity to get some extra weapons."

Rick gave a bored nod. "Sure… w-w-w-why not. I don't care…" he muttered drunkenly. "So… Sci-Fi, Crazy-Pants, and I and Morty will stay here while the new people stay to help with lifting. Fez-Head can go with the kiddies."

Stan gave a frown. "Um… I can help too with the portal…" he lowly informed.

Rick raised the one side of his unibrow in skepticism. "Okay, g-g-g-genius," he began sarcastically. "What the hell do you know about interdimensional workings? The power source alone has enough radiation that i-i-i-if misused can cause a global mutation that would t-t-t-take _way_ more time for me t-t-t-to fix than to just prevent it. From what I-I-I-I've seen you are just the sometimes useful b-b-brawn to your twin there."

Mabel could see Stan's face turning red with anger. She braced herself for his yelling because she just knew how sensitive he was about his intelligence.

"What the hell do you know about me anyway!?" Stan then screamed, him putting his hands in the air. "For thirty years I worked on the damn portal in the basement of the Shack every night just so I can bring Ford back! It's my fault in the first place he was sent there!

"I spent countless nights reading those damn textbooks he had on mechanical engineering, advanced physics, chemistry, highly advanced math, and other bullshit! I know how that damn thing worked so well I can still most likely recite the very same mathematical equations used and how they damn work and why they work!

"So, don't sit there all high and mighty and think I'm some kind of idiot, because I'm not! I'm not…! Now, I'm going to help you people with this damn thing because I'm getting my great nephew back! The kid has suffered enough…" Stan finally finished, him panting from his rant, the room an eerie quiet. His fists had been so tight that they looked pure white with no circulation whatsoever.

"Stanley…" Ford finally said softly. Mabel had a feeling that the realization of what his twin actually did for him had hit him like a ton of bricks since Ford looked like he was about to stumble. "I…"

"It's fine, Stanford." Stan barked, maybe a little too harshly as he did wince at his own tone. "It's fine…" he repeated a lot more softly.

"No, Stan," Ford then replied to his twin firmly. "It's not 'fine'. You did all of that in an effort to save my sorry ass and I overlooked it."

Rick gave a scoff, "A-A-A-A-Alright, we don't have time for that shit." He then went to the car that they had arrived in and took out what looked like a toolbox with odd gadgets in it. "We'll handle the fort here, so… Stuck-Up Blonde, Older Curly Hair, Hyper Curly Hair, Wimpy Looking Blonde Boy go get us some more metal and wires to work with."

"We have names…" George deadpanned.

"And I don't care."

George gave him a hard glare as he took Mabel's hand and began to walk away.

* * *

The surface of Gravity Falls was dark, which meant it was now much more dangerous now with the demons and monsters running rampage thanks to Magum, but it was worth the risk so that they could get the supplies that they needed.

Mabel had her grappling hook in hand and a small pistol that she had grabbed from the box she had brought back from the Shack. Pacifica had Dipper's sniper rifle strapped on her back, a pistol in hand. Annie stuck to her interdimensional weapon, her stating that she trusted her weapon more since she was used to it, which Mabel couldn't really blame her for.

George however didn't have a pistol on his person, him leaving Wendy, Soos, Melody, and Gideon with the weapons. When Mabel had asked why he didn't take a gun for himself he stated that he would much rather find himself a bow and a quiver of arrows and a crossbow if he could.

The night air was chilly, Mabel feeling goosebumps forming on her arms despite wearing a sweater with an undershirt. Silver glinted the trees from the moonlight and the stars, the pale light just barely illuminating their path.

They finally made it into town, everything before them dark and empty. Paper flew in the air by the wind, the only thing truly alive in the town. The shops' windows were dark and some were boarded up. People were most likely taking refuge in specially built bunkers in case something terrible had happened again.

George had lead away to a small hunting shop, him knocking down the door with ease. Despite Rick pinning him as a "Wimpy Looking Blonde Boy" he was quite strong. Finding a bow with quivers was easy, him strapping the equipment to himself with professional ease as he grabbed a crossbow.

"Now… what kind of stuff does McGucket need anyway?" George asked as he calibrated his weapons to make sure they would shoot accurately.

Annie replied, "Well, he probably needs something sturdy enough to withstand the energy to hold the portal open."

"The recycling center might have something…" Pacifica pointed out as she grabbed for more bullets for the rifle and handguns. "People have still been putting stuff there since last time with old cars and sidings of buildings."

"Then that's where we should go," George confirmed.

The small group found their way to the recycling center, which ironically was right next to the dump, so sometimes things got mixed up a bit. Inside the recycling center area they found a gold cart, which Mabel drove expertly as she had done it so many times before at the Shack. As Mabel drove Pacifica, George, and Annie managed to find decent salvageable metal to put in the back of the cart to drive back.

Howling was in the distance, making the hair on Mabel's arms stand up. She had a feeling that they weren't normal wolves. "Guys," she hissed in warning. "Be on the lookout."

As she said that a large silver wolf-like creature suddenly appeared in front of the cart, forcing Mabel to slam on the breaks. The monster howled and bared its teeth at her, and she froze in fear.

It was the same kind of monster that nearly killed her before and forced Dipper to make the deal with Bill in the first place.

Absently, she put a hand to her throat very slowly, her blood roaring in her ears. It was almost as though she could feel her hot blood pouring down her body… she felt like she was trying to breathe through liquid. Her body started to shake, and she could swear someone was saying something to her…

"MABEL!" George had screamed, him going into her line of vision. Immediately he took his bow and arrow and he took aim to the monster. Swiftly he pulled back the string and let it go with the arrow flying. The arrow pierced the monster's eye as it roared loudly as black blood spilled from the wound. George then quickly swapped places with Mabel, him taking the driver's seat, the girl's body shaking terribly as she shrank into him.

"Wait a second…" Annie mumbled, Mabel barely hearing. "Can he be…?"

"HANG ON!" George screamed as he threw the cart in reverse and floored on the gas. The cart jerked backwards just as the monster went to take a swipe, its claws scraping the dirt that the cart was at just moments before. "Paz, you can shoot the rifle while moving… right?" George quickly shouted to Pacifica as he changed gears and turned to the wheel to move forward and turn sharply towards the exit.

"Barely!" the blonde screamed back in reply, her hands already on the rifle and making sure it was ready. "But, I can try!"

George gave a nod as he turned the cart sharply left to avoid another one of the wolf monsters from pouncing them. "Annie… what about you?" George then asked. "You know how to shoot while something is moving?"

The dark brunette rolled her eyes. "Of course. I've driven Bike Pods and Hover Panels over chasms while being chased by-"

"START SHOOTING THEN!" George then screamed as he pressed the pedal to the floor of the cart, the small little thing going as fast as it possibly could.

Pacifica did her best with the movement, her getting a few shots in, but it was Annie that did the final blows with her gun. However it seemed like that when one monster was killed another took its place.

One of the monsters starting running along the side of the cart, Mabel peering around George to see scarlet red eyes and large brown stained fangs bared at her. It took a swipe but George leaned back with one arm in front of Mabel to bring her back as well. The massive claw of the beast was near inches away from her throat, causing her to nearly black out. As soon as the claw left the cart for a moment so the beast could regain proper footing George grabbed his crossbow that was on the floor by his leg with his left hand and without even looking shot it at the creature. A howl of pain was heard but George kept his eyes on the quickly approaching exit.

George drove through the exit, Pacifica taking a quick second to aim at the sign that read "GRAVITY FALLS RECYCLING CENTER: YOUR JUNK IS GOOD FOR SOMETHING" and shot the supports. The remaining monster were just about to cross the gate when the sign fell upon them, howls of pain and fury echoing behind them.

"Nice shot, Paz!" George cheered as he screeched the cart to a complete stop.

"That was impressive," Annie agreed with a small smile.

Mabel was still next to George, her body pressed tightly up against him. "Hey… it's okay now." George told her gently.

"I-I-I thought they were going to hurt me…" Mabel finally sobbed. "I'm so sorry… I should've helped… but I froze!"

"It's understandable why you did though…" Pacifica comforted.

Annie raised a brown brow. "Why would she freeze at those…? Those are easily Level Three Demons, they're usually found in the snowy upper quadrants of the-" Annie began but was interrupted by George.

"BECAUSE SHE NEARLY GOT KILLE BY ONE!" the dark blonde screamed furiously. "These maybe easy pickings for you, Annie, but not to us! We didn't grow up to this, we were thrown into it with barely anything!"

"George… don't yell at her…" Mabel whispered to him weakly. "She doesn't know this dimension and what we've been through…"

Annie jumped out of the cart, her taking a few steps back. Her brown eyes were wide and round, as if she was terrified of something. Tears brimmed around them, tears starting to fall from the corners.

George immediately looked guilty. "Oh, no! Please don't cry…! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-!"

"No… you're right. You didn't grow up where you had to fight every day for survival," Annie sniffled. "I'm sure all of you have lost people that were dear to you because of these creatures… it was inconsiderate that I thought that everyone just knew how to deal with them." She then took a deep breath and stood up straight. "I apologize for my words… um, George, is it?"

"Yeah… George."

"I apologize, George."

"… It's okay…"

Mabel then gave a small weak smile as she threw her arms around her boyfriend. "Good job driving, sweetie," she whispered and then pecked his cheek, giggling as she noticed George blush.

"We need to get these supplies back to the Bartek cabin," Pacifica said, her checking the back of the cart to make sure all of the stuff they had found was still there. "They're all probably getting worried."

George drove the cart back to the old cabin in the woods, the sound of flapping wings overhead. George moved as fast and quietly as he could so they all wouldn't be attacked by another demonic monster. They've had enough excitement for one day…

Once back at the cabinet it took them a moment to figure out how to get the heavy metal down to the basement. Annie had the idea of going down and getting Ford for his magnet gun, so she had went down to fetch him. When Annie returned with Ford the old scientist helped lower the metal beams with the magnet gun, although it was clear that it was straining him.

"Thanks guys," Ford huffed as the last bit of metal made it to the bottom. "That should be enough to keep the portal stabilized for the couple of days we need it open." He then put the magnet gun away once they were all settled at the bottom of the basement. "I hope you guys didn't run into any trouble."

"Oh, there was plenty," Annie answered nonchalantly.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh, there were Frost Lyalls all over, but George handled the driving pretty flawlessly."

"Wait… Frost _what_!?"

"H-H-H-H-Hey, girls!" Rick's voice was then heard from the main room that held the portal. "S-S-Stop gossiping and get your asses over here!"

The final touches were made on the portal, it being extremely large ad triangular shaped. Mabel stood before the large interdimensional portal, her suddenly feeling very small. A thought went through her head, a thought that she will admit that ran through her head several times, a thought that she preferred to keep in the back of her mind and to never say it aloud…

 _What if I didn't press that button that day…?_

The universe may not have torn to create a highly unstable rift. Bill may never had taken over Gravity Falls and the world. Dipper may not have severe psychological issues.

But then again… Ford would not have returned home. Mabel may not have met the nicest boy that she was glad to call her boyfriend. She may not have seen how happy her twin gets over the simple things of life again like they were new when he was with someone he truly cared about.

There were many "What if" moments that could have possibly happened if she had not pushed the button.

However, there is no "What if?" in that very moment.

Mabel _will_ get her brother back and end the wrath of demons trying to take over the entire multiverse.

"Here we go!" McGucket cheered from a large control panel. "This here dohicky is gonna make sure yer all safe and I can track ya!" He then went over and handed Ford a small device. "While yer brother and the… other guy… went and got radioactive waste fer fuel, I made this!"

"What does it do, Fiddleford?" Ford asked his old colleague as he observed the device with great interest.

"That there is a tracker," McGucket began to explain. "Ya push that there big button in the center and it'll send a signal ta me so I can find ya." He had pointed at a large red button in the center. He then went to point at a small blue one below it. "That there will send a pulse out… it'll help find weaker tears in the dimensions yer in."

Annie peered around Ford to look at the device. "So… it can help track natural portals?" she asked lightly.

"Yeah."

"The timing will all be off with the Axolotl dead…" Annie murmured worriedly.

"We don't have time to think about that," Ford quickly said as he put the tracker in his trench coat. "Rick, ready to leave?"

"Heh…!?" the drunk scientist suddenly screamed he seemingly woke up from being passed out. "Um… yeah."

"Aw, geez, Rick…" his grandson groaned.

"Fiddleford, start it up!" Ford called.

The old hillbilly began pressing various buttons with great speed. He clearly knew what he was doing as he had designed the console and was a brilliant engineer. The inside of the portal began to spark and soon a loud hum began to fill the room. A brilliant blue light emitted from the machine, a small sphere in the center. Slowly, it began to grow bigger.

"It might take a few minutes for it to get large enough for ya'll to enter!" the old engineer shouted to Ford, his voice nearly being driven out by the humming.

Suddenly, a red light emerged from the side, two large insectoid beings stepping out. They were a dull green with big buggy red eyes, them looking like a cross between a fly and a praying mantis. The two aliens had blasters in their hands and aimed them toward the group.

"By the order of Galactic Federation," one of them said in a low voice, almost unheard because of the portal growing in power. "You are all under arrest!"

"Rick Sanchez and Mortimer Smith of Earth Dimension C-137 for crimes against the government of illegal traveling, mass chaos, theft, breaking machines at Blips and Chitz, and death tolls," the second guard began listing. "Stanford Pines of Earth Dimension 46'\ for crimes of theft, one major item being the highly illegal Infinity Sided Die, murders in various dimensions, including in Dimension 45'\\. Annabeth Bartek-Pines of Dimension M-120 for crimes such as theft, illegal use of a Dimension TY-789'/ designed blaster, Gopnop trafficking, and for jaywalking across the intersection in Dimension 9-PL."

"Geez, is that all?" Annie groaned as she dramatically rolled her eyes.

"What's a Gopnop…?" Morty whispered to Rick real quick.

"Imagine a dog and cat put together," Rick whispered back. "And I don't mean like that old 90's show, I'm talking like literally if you mashed a dog and a cat together, like force them to have sex-"

"Okay! I get it! Ew!" Morty hissed.

"And finally," the first guard said, completely ignoring Rick and Morty. "Stanley Pines of Earth Dimension 46'\ for stealing radioactive waste with Rick Sanchez of Earth Dimension C-137 from Dimension 523*HT."

"Cool, I'm now an interdimensional criminal," Stan muttered sarcastically.

Rick then gave the two aliens a skeptical look. "S-S-Since when did the Galactic Federation have access to portals…?" he then asked. "I-I-I mean, that's partially a reason why you guys chase me all the time… to get the secret to my portal gun."

"Silence, criminal!" the second guard shouted, it aiming its gun at Rick, a noticeable high pitch coming from it, despite the loudness of the portal. "We don't have to answer to you!"

"We have strict orders from a private client," the first guard stated.

Annie then suddenly knocked down an old table that was holding tools from when they were rebuilding the portal. "They're working for Magum!" she screamed just as a plasma beam broke through the table and nearly grazed her cheek. With a grunt she popped up from behind the knocked table and started shooting, giving the others a chance to find cover.

Ford, Rick and Morty managed to get behind the cart that was driven from the recycling center and started blasting with Annie. Stan, Mabel, George, and Pacifica got to the control panel where McGucket and the others were.

"At least we're dealing with this instead of the crazy kid!" the first guard said to his partner, him switching out a used plasma canister for a new one.

"Oh, yeah, the kid that got yellow eyes and just killed a whole merchant town!" the second guard recalled. "That shit was crazy!"

Mabel's ears perked up when she heard that. A kid with yellow eyes and killing people? She felt her heart fall to the pit of her stomach and it felt like she had forgotten how to breathe. Not only did they possibly know where her brother was, but that fact was what they had stated in appearance.

That meant Bill was back and taking over Dipper again.

But before she could ask any questions Rick had popped up from the side of the cart and took fire at the second insectoid guard. Green blood splattered from the wound as it collapsed, it dropping its gun. The gun once it fell on the ground shot a plasma round and shot the other in the foot, it hopping up and down until Rick shot that one in the head, it collapsing to the ground and a puddle of green blood formed beneath it.

"That's gross, Rick…" Morty groaned with the look of disgust on his face. "Why do you always have to kill everyone?"

"Because its defense and I hate them," Rick stated as if it were obvious.

The loud humming from the portal finally dimmed down, it going to a soft hum. What was once a small blue sphere was now the entire inside of the portal, the inside a dazzling sky blue with a white energy flowing in its center.

"I have a feel'n that those won't be the last of 'em," McGucket said as he looked at the console. "There might be more, so ya'll gotta git through that there portal."

"Do you have any coordinates ready…?" Ford then asked his friend, him joining his old friend at the console.

McGucket hit a few buttons. "Well… there seems to be a high level signal coming from-"

"Just send us there," Ford told him.

"Heh…?" McGucket gasped. "Ain't that dangerous?"

"I have travelled the multiverse for thirty years, Rick travels on a daily basis, and Annie grew up in the multiverse," Ford explained. "I think we will be fine."

"A-Alright…" McGucket softly replied as he tapped a few more buttons. The machine began to rumble, the very floor beneath them vibrating. "Just be careful! And 'member that device!"

"Thank you!" Mabel called out to the old man, tears stinging her eyes.

"Good luck dudes!" Soos shouted with a wave.

"Kick some demon ass for me!" Wendy then shouted.

 _We're coming for you, Mason._

"Hey… who is that other-?" Gideon's voice was heard, but it was too late to hear the rest of his sentence as they group stepped through the large interdimensional portal.

Stepping through the portal was a completely odd sensation for Mabel. It felt as though her body wanted to be ripped apart in multiple directions and her whole body tingled. Her stomach felt as though it were tied up in knots, the sensation of feeling like she needed to vomit practically overcoming her.

Finally, she fell face first into a pile of snow. The icy cold stung her face, her giving an involuntary shudder as she stood up. A wave of relief enveloped her as she saw that she wasn't alone, it looked as though that everyone had made it safely.

"Everyone here?" Stan called out, him brushing off the snow from his suit. He then adjusted his fez on his head. He then began listing names as he did a headcount, him muttering under his breath everyone's names. "Okay… looks like we all made it."

"You didn't count me!" a small voice cried out happily.

Everyone screamed as they noticed a small little girl that looked to be no more than four years old in front of them. The girl had light brown hair, almost the color of a chestnut, and her eyes looked as though they were made of sapphires.

"B-Blythe!?" Pacifica screamed, her gripping her hands into her blonde hair. "What-!? How-!? When-!? _WHAT!?_ "

Blythe cocked her head to the side. "Oh… sorry. I should've mentioned it before…" the little girl sighed.

George gave the small girl a confused look. "What do mean, Blythe?" he asked her.

"That I'm dead."

Pacifica threw her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp. "Blythe! That's not a nice thing to pretend!" she tearfully chastised.

The girl shook her head with a pout. "No… it's true," the girl replied, her voice sounding as though she were going to cry. "My name is Blythe Rosing… I used to live in Greenland…

"I remember Dippy when he first was there… he looked like he wanted to cry and just sit in the snow. But his eyes turned yellow and he started laughing… I remember silver, and then black. A big pink then came to me in the sleepy dream. It asked to look after Dippy. I said yes. That's why I like Dippy so much! I have to look after him!"

Annie had a hand to the crystal pendant that hung around her neck. "She's telling the truth…" the dark brunette confirmed. "She has been touched by the Axolotl. Just like how some of his essence is in my necklace, a little bit of him is in her to keep her alive."

"That kinda makes sense…" George agreed, a pained look on his face. "It explains why she doesn't remember her family, even at the age of four you know what your parents look like and their names."

Pacifica then walked up to Blythe and picked her up gently, giving the small girl a hug. "So… why is she here right now…?" Pacifica asked softly.

"I have to look after Dippy, Pacie!"

Ford gave a loud sigh, "Well, we can't send her back. We don't have time. If the Axolotl has kept her alive to look after Dipper then she must be important." He then turned toward a soft glow in the sky, a town in the distance. "I have a feeling I know where we are… We, need to get moving. We are wasting time, we now have less than forty-eight hours."

Mabel gave a nod, a new form of determination filling her veins.

 _We're on our way, Bro-Bro!_

* * *

 **A/N:** AAAAAAAAAND, DONE! I'm sorry it took a bit to write this, when Mother's Day rolled around I kind of just shut down and I had no motivation to write. But, this is a bit longer, so I hope it is worth it!

Also, some trivia!

The dimension Annie is from is M-120. The M meaning for Magum and the 120 is my birthday, January 20th.

Dimension 45'\ is the dimension that Ford had entered in during "Beyond the Portal" and killed a different version of Dr. Bartek to get the isotope for his gun to kill Bill.

Rick talking about the 90's show is "Cat-Dog".

Thank you for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	10. Rising

**Chapter 9: Rising**

Fiddleford McGucket watched as his friends entered through the large portal, a sense of dread in his heart.

 _I sure hope they make it…_

Despite all of the therapy and medication he takes the past still haunts him greatly. For years he had relied on the Memory Gun he had personally invented. At one point he barely remembered his name, the fact the he was married and had a son, and worse of all it was as if he forgot he was human, Night terrors still wake him up in the middle of the night, him seeing vivid images of Bill Cipher for that brief moment.

 _That demon… literally ripped his outer layer apart and fed off of some poor creature…_

It was the most frightening thing that he had ever seen. Growing up in the south he had regularly went to church with his family, he had read and seen paintings of Hell and the tortures to the sinners. But what he had seen that day when he accidentally went through the portal made those transcripts and art look tame.

He's much older now, so he knows that if his mind can no longer truly be fixed, then that was okay, he had accepted it. The least he could do was try to do is help a young kid going through something similar to himself.

McGucket had always liked Dipper. Before he gained some of his memories back he knew there was something familiar to the boy, and afterwards it was so obvious. Dipper was a lot like Ford, but it seemed that the kid was absent of the pure arrogance that had once taken a great of Ford. He had to help Dipper in some way, the kid and his sister had done so much for him.

So, the old man sat at the console, watching his monitor and flashing lights, ready to help bring them all home with only the comfort being the most soft of hums from the portal.

"I sure hope those dudes can do it!" Soos positively said. "I mean, if anyone can help save the world again it's the Pines family!"

"Ditto on that," Wendy agreed, her lifting a fist in the air and collided it with Soos' for a fist bump.

Gideon then approached McGucket, a worried look on his face. "How's everything doing…?"

"I just have a very bad feel'n about this…"

There was a low rumble from overhead, dust and small debris falling from the ceiling. Both Gideon and McGucket looked up confusedly, both knowing that they were at the second level of the basement.

Something then fell from the top of the elevator shaft with a loud thump and snaps. A low groan echoed through the room, then another thump. Then another… then another…

"Um… guys…?" Melody called out worriedly. "I think something is over there…"

The sound of shuffling came toward them and low moans. Soon they came into the light, their bodies flushed in blue. They were humanoid-looking creatures that was well over seven feet tall, their skin sunken in and appeared to have large gashes. No clothing was seen, just ripped, sunken, dry-looking skin clung to them.

"Looks like somethin' from a video game!" Soos shouted as he pointed at them. "Except you know, real!"

"We got to stop them!" Wendy screamed as she took her axe off of her belt loop, her giving it a little spin in her hand. "If they do something to the console then the others can't get back!"

The redhead charged at the creatures, her axe raised and ready to strike. Shuffling stopped and it was if they were startled animals, the creatures suddenly bearing razor-sharp teeth stained black and brown. Wendy didn't hesitate, she kept on charging. When she got close the monsters then pounced, bounding toward her with aggressive speed.

One nearly grabbed her, but she then quickly axed its neck, a dark red splattering from the wound. The blood was thick and almost sludge-like, her axe almost getting stuck in the wound she created like it was tar.

Flashes exploded in the room, the small thundering sounds of rounds exiting a chamber filling the once calm atmosphere. Soos and Melody were standing by the console with McGucket, the engaged couple both holding pistols in their hands. Their rounds pierced the flesh of the creatures, the sludge of their blood pooling beneath them as they continued trying to run and pounce at Wendy, but the bullets seemed to have no effect.

"What the hell are these things!?" Wendy screeched, her grunting with effort as she swung the axe. One by one she hit the necks of the monsters, them falling down to the ground only to get back up again.

One grabbed her leg and knocked her to the ground, her yowling in pain as the back of her head cracked against the ground. Her axe was knocked of her hand and it spun away from her reach. The monster was on top of her, it bearing its teeth with a breath that was so foul it was almost like knock-out gas. The eyes were black and hollow, nothing was there until she looked directly in them.

Glowing scarlet eyes met her green and she screamed, seeing visions of tortured souls within its eyes. Wendy tried to struggle away, but she felt her body getting weaker and weaker, her feeling as though something was being ripped from her.

"Wendy!" Gideon shouted as a blue glow appeared over the creature. The glowing of its eyes stopped as it was lifted from Wendy and thrown against the other creatures, the monster being forced into a wall. "Stay away from my friend, you heathens!" Gideon himself was covered in a blue veil, a small blue stone gripped tightly in his hand. "For once I'll use the power of this stone to _help_ people!"

"Woah!" Soos gasped in astonishment. "When'd you get another one those, dude?"

Gideon quickly explained, "I memorized a few pages of the second journal. The one that talked about the magical amulet told of where they were found and how to infuse it with power. I simply returned to the deepest caves of Gravity Falls and got one again." He then raised a hand and the blue veil went of the monsters, them becoming unmoving as though they were frozen.

"Thanks, Gideon!" Wendy thanked as she got up and grabbed her axe. "Now… how do these things get killed?"

 _"_ _When you strip them of the souls of their victims,"_ a chilling voice answered her. Stepping from the shadows was a tall figure, it with gray rubbery skin and a bald head. There were no color to its eyes, just a stark white that seemed to be soulless eyes. It wore a pure black business suit, it looking as though it just stepped out of a meeting. _"But unfortunately for you humans, it is impossible to kill them. The only way to kill them is to become one of them and suck their souls out. Very nasty to be honest…"_ It then gave a wolf-like smile.

"Who the hell are you!?" Wendy shouted furiously. "Why are you attacking us with those _freaks_!?"

 _"_ _Miss Ice Bag, they are called Wendigo Soul-Eating Demons,"_ the figure sharply told her, ignoring her question about who it was. _"I'm sure you humans have your own myths about these things as there are many and many different kinds, and these ones are actually from here from the very bottom of Gravity Falls."_

"Those things are from _here_!?" Gideon cried out in shock. "Wh-what!?"

 _"_ _Pity, these things used to_ run _this town… No one has resulted into cannibalism for years and that's why they haven't been around…"_ the figure mused. It then looked as though it has forgotten something. _"Oh, yes, I have forgotten to introduce myself…_

 _"_ _My name is Magum Cerebrum, and I am here to be the ruler of the entire multiverse."_

" _You're_ Magum?" Wendy sputtered with disbelief. "You look no more impressive than Bill Cipher."

The white eyes suddenly turned black with rage. _"Don't you_ DARE _compare me to that bumbling fool, you useless animal!"_ he snapped. Red flames licked his body

"I'm human."

 _"_ _No… humans are animals and will be treated as such!"_ Magum stated, him brushing off dust from his suit.

"Oh, come off of it you ass!" Wendy taunted him. "You are just some cowardly asshole that sends minions to do the dirty work!"

Magum coked his head to the side. _"Oh…? Really, now?"_ He then took a step forward threateningly. He gave a low chuckle when he saw that Wendy raised her axe. _"Who is the coward?"_

Wendy charged, her cry of determination filling the room. Her axe was raised overhead and when she got to Magum she used whatever strength she had to force the axe into him.

But the axe was still in midair, Wendy fighting trying to get past some invisible barrier.

 _"_ _Hmmm…"_ Magum hummed. _"Trying to force your way to me, eh?"_ He raised a hand and with a flick of his wrist the axe was yanked from Wendy's hands and flown away from her.

"HEY!" she screamed furiously.

 _"_ _I must say, I am quite impressed with you humans,"_ Magum complimented. _"Your survival skills are quite advanced. I'll keep you all alive… For now. I need that portal open so that Stanford Pines can deliver Cipher possessing that boy to me. There is unfinished business to attend to."_

Wendy charged again, no weapon but a fist. "You leave them all alone!" she screeched as she tried to throw a punch at him.

 _"_ _Well… someone needs to be punished…"_ Magum laughed darkly as he flicked his wrist again.

A flash of silver and then a spray of red, a piercing scream filled the room.

There was a thump as a pale severed arm fell to the floor, the bend of where an elbow used to be nothing but a sickening tear of jagged flesh, the bones of the ulna and radius splintered and cracked from where they would've connected to the joint that would've attached to the humerus. Blood pooled from the end, it soon emptying and the arm looked sunken and shriveled.

Wendy screamed and wept in pain as she collapsed to her knees, her right hand trying desperately to cover the opening of her left arm, the bright scarlet slipping through her fingers. Tears, snot, and sweat fell off her face and mixed with the blood, her face becoming whiter than a sheet of paper and soon taking on a grey color scheme. Soon, her body fell to the side, her breathing heavily.

 _"_ _Animals get punished when they don't behave,"_ Magum told the dying redhead gravely. _"If you live from this I highly suggest to you that you learn how to watch your tone with someone with power."_ He then began to walk away, him snapping his fingers and wendigoes that Gideon kept at bay for so long burst into flames.

Gideon had been concentrating on keeping the monsters from attacking, his body finally giving out as he fell to his knees. He fully saw Wendy in her pain, him feeling guilty that he didn't try to stop her from attacking or somehow stopped Magum.

 _"_ _I'll leave you to the portal, I'll soon be back to have a good ol' chat with my friend Cipher,"_ Magum practically purred as he then left through a newly opened red portal, the portal shutting behind as he exited.

Melody sprang into action, her rushing to Wendy's side. The teenager's eyes were glassy and her breathing was ragged. Immediately Melody took off the hoodie she was wearing and began to make a makeshift tourniquet to stop Wendy's bleeding. Melody glanced at the arm, her giving a small shake of her head.

"There is no way the arm can be saved now…" Melody stated gravely. "Soos, Gideon, I need you two to rush to the hospital and try to bring me back sterile needles and gauze so I can try to stitch the wound closed… there isn't a lot of skin to work with unfortunately…" She finished the tourniquet and the blood flow from the wound stopped.

"Alright, we'll head out right away!" Gideon assured her. "C'mon, Soos!"

"Right behind ya, hambone!"

As the two left her to get the supplies Melody tried to keep Wendy awake. "You don't sleep, okay? No matter how much you want to," she told the redheaded teenager sternly but worriedly.

A dark chuckled escaped Wendy's blue lips. "Not… a chance… I'm g-gonna… g-get that… bastard…" she rasped.

Melody gave a small smile. "I know you will."

McGucket watched from the console, his whole body feeling as if it were made of stone. He had frozen when he saw Magum, he had the same sense of power like Bill did. Even if McGucket wasn't watching over the console and was sane in mind, could he have possibly helped with anything?

During his research days with Ford he had been terrified at every new thing. He was glad that they never had come across any lore of wendigoes in Gravity Falls or Ford would've dragged him into that as well. He was an engineer and inventor, not some kind of monster hunter!

 _I should've helped… now Wendy is suffering and possibly will die…_

* * *

"Why is there no rope!?"

Gideon looked up the elevator shaft, his blue eyes wide. "There is no way we can get up there!" he cried out.

"We'll have to climb up," Soos said. "While we are out there we'll find some rope to get us down."

"How're we gonna climb up there!?"

Soos then pointed at the loose wires and cords that hung from the very top. "We'll have to climb… we're chubby dudes, it's gonna take some effort but we gotta do it!"

Gideon then gave himself a face-palm. "I'm so _stupid_!" he groaned. He then took out the stone amulet from his pocket and held it up. A soft blue glue went around them and slowly they were rising up the elevator shaft and the up the broken stairs to the main part of the Bartek cabin. "I don't know why I was freaking out…" Gideon muttered. "I have the amulet."

"Oh, right!" Soos chuckled. "I forgot about that!"

Once they made it to the main house they ran out the door. Overhead the sky was a mix of orange and pink, the sun rising above the horizon. Had they really been down their all night? It didn't seem like it. They saw the cart that Mabel and the others had driven there with the metal from the recycling center and hopped right in with Soos in the driver's seat.

Soos floored it and the cart sped forward, the cart bumping and shaking as it went over the uneven terrain. They made it to the hospital as fast as they possibly could, them avoiding whatever monsters and demons they saw in their path.

Inside the hospital it was humming with backup generators, a few doctors and nurses around wheeling sick patients to safe zones within the hospital. One of the people wheeling a patient wore a candy striper apron that was filled to the brim with the stripes with her bronze colored hair tied up in a tight bun with a few strands framing her face. Gideon had recognized her immediately.

"Shannon!" Gideon cried out, the girl snapping her head over.

"Gideon? Are you guys hurt!?" she asked frantically, her brown eyes that reminded him of melted chocolate wide with worry.

"Wendy is hurt!" Gideon shouted, his breathing becoming panicked. "The demon Magum came and-"

"Her arm got chopped off!" Soos finished frantically.

"Oh my God…!" Shannon squeaked. "H-hold on… let me get Mrs. Smithins to the safe zone and I'll get my mom! She's a doctor!" She then rushed the patient to the safe zone that was down the hallway, her body looking as though she were a caramel candy zipping through the white hospital.

Shannon came back within a couple of minutes, her towing a woman that looked similar to her with the bronze hair and with cocoa colored skin. "They're right here!" Shannon frantically told her mother. The doctor was carrying a semi-large bag, almost like a carryon for a plane, most likely filled to the brim with supplies.

"Okay…" the woman replied. "Hello, I am Dr. Elizabeth Clover-Brown, please take me to your friend."

"O-Of course!" Gideon stuttered as he led them to the cart outside.

"Now, she was forcibly amputated?" Dr. Clover-Brown asked, her trying to get the full story.

Soos replied, "Yeah. It looks pretty bad. My fiancé is there right now trying to help."

"Is there a tourniquet in place?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I can try to stitch her up and keep her stabilized long enough for us to bring her back to the hospital."

Soos drove past various monsters as fast as he could, him swerving the cart. They didn't have time to fight any monsters if they got caught. The sun was high in the sky by the time they had gotten back to the Bartek cabin, the doctor's brown eyes widening.

"Wh-what place is this…?" Dr. Clover-Brown asked.

"You've heard of a Dr. Bartek, right?" Gideon asked her curiously.

"A stem cell researcher that wanted to play God too much," the doctor replied gravely. "Who knew he ended up in Gravity Falls… I can only imagine the horrors in that home…"

"Welp, you're gonna see it for yourself!" Soos told her cheerfully.

Time was not wasted as they rushed inside the house. Gideon used his amulet to levitate the group down to the depths of the underground. The doctor and her young daughter gasping at some of the horrific sights that hung around in the basement. Soon, the group made it back to the second floor of the basement, Melody putting a hand to Wendy's forehead.

"She's very cold…" Melody stated when she saw Dr. Clover-Brown rush to the teenaged girl. "She definitely went into shock… I've tried to keep her as stabilized as best I could…"

Dr. Clover-Brown opened up her bag and took out a stethoscope and put the buds in her ears as she placed the resonator on Wendy's chest. After a moment she took them out and placed them back into her bag and grabbed out sterile equipment.

"For what little you have you did amazing, miss…?" Dr. Clover-Brown began to praise but stopped when she realized she didn't know Melody's name.

"Melody," the woman replied.

"You were a big help," the doctor continued, her taking out what looked to be some kind of disinfecting solution. "I just need to stitch her up long enough to get her back to the hospital…" The doctor poured the solution over the wound, Wendy barely moving, and poured some over a needle and thread. She began to sew the jagged skin closed, although it looked quite sloppy and uneven as there was little time and not much skin to work with. "She's good, let's move!" Dr. Clover-Brown announced.

"Okay, I'll go with you to help." Melody volunteered. "Gideon, come assist us out of here, I'll drive them back to the hospital and you and Soos can stay here with McGucket and the portal."

"Yes, ma'am!" Gideon confidently replied. He did what he was asked and assisted the girls back up through the underground levels. He watched as they loaded up Wendy into the cart, the girl's head resting on Shannon's lap.

"We'll take good care of her, Gideon!" Shannon assured, her giving a thumbs up. "Don't hesitate to come get us if you guys get hurt!"

"I won't hesitate!" Gideon promised, the cart beginning to drive away as Gideon gave a small wave.

* * *

 _Those fools… helping each other. How pathetic._

Magum watched as two new humans drove the Ice Bag in a primitive vehicle. In a way it amused him that these animals were clever enough to try to help the foulmouthed brat.

The power demon then waked away from the hill that he watched the humans from. He saw no reason to disrupt their little "heroism". The demon decided that he should make sure his minions didn't disrupt the portal anymore, after all he needed Stanford Pines to deliver Bill to him personally.

 _And when I see that insignificant_ girl _I don't care what deal I had made with Layla… she will be_ severely punished.

Magum had always hated the girl that was named Annabeth Fordley Bartek-Pines. Although the girl shared some of her mother's features, when he saw the girl all he saw was Stanford. The same dark, curly brown hair that man had in his youth, the big brown eyes, and of course the polydactyl. He absolutely _hated_ that girl, sometimes he went over his decision about letting that girl even be born.

But he hated Stanford Pines even more, and he could somehow use her to his advantage of hurting the human man.

The demon gritted his teeth, him feeling his red flames lick over his hands. As he walked down the roads of Gravity Falls, the ground cracked and split, surviving wendigoes crawling up and pouncing to buildings just wanting a new victim.

 _I must bide my time… he will deliver Bill Cipher to me._

The boy that called himself "Dipper" was an unusual human. For some reason Bill was letting that child had control of his body, something that irritated Magum to no end. He just wanted to kill that triangular bastard! He could just kill the boy, but to Magum that wouldn't be much of a satisfaction.

 _Just what are you planning, Cipher?_

Finally, Magum reached the center of town, him looking around the open space of the town square. He gave shrug. Surly this will do.

The demon raised a hand as though he was lifting something with his palm. A low rumble from beneath the surface shook the buildings around, some windows shattering. Cracks began to spider-web across the ground, the concrete splitting apart as something rose.

It looked to be like a sharp point, but as it rose higher and higher it was revealed to be a large spike that was part of a design of a throne. The throne was large and made of solid black stone, Magum had using his telekinesis to use the earth's precious metals to form such a glorious sign of his rule of the multiverse. Designs were etched into the stone, them being identical to the ones on his horns for when he was in his true form: All depictions of others' misery, war, apocalypses, and death.

Magum gave his infamous wolf-like smile as he went up the steps he had crated to sit on his throne. He gave a sigh that he was satisfied and watched as a few wendigoes pulled out a few hiding humans from inside a small bakery. He watched with great amusement as one wendigo took the soul of one human and once done the other ripped the head off the human's body, bright scarlet becoming almost like a fountain.

 _Now there is an idea… a fountain of human blood, which would look quite nice in my new world…_

A dark laugh escaped him as the wendigoes crawled over the town and over the lower part of his throne, the sky darkening to a dark red.

 _Oh, Stanford Pines, please do deliver Bill Cipher to me… because once I am done with him I'll surly enjoy_ annihilating you. _Then… my Rising will surely and truly begin._

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey everyone! Sorry this took a little dark turn, but we know my style at this point. I enjoy playing survival horror games such as "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill", so some of the monsters and scenes I describe can become quite gruesome... oops.

So yeah... Wendy... She'll be fine, don't worry!

 _ **QUICK THINGS!**_

\- The wendigoes are based off the game "Until Dawn" for the PS4 with a few little things different about them. I was going to make them zombies, but I already used them in "Cipher's Reign" when Mabel and George were getting Robbie's tapestry.

\- I wanted to bring back Shannon, first seen in the short story "Gideon: Normal Kid" from "After Cipher's Reign: Short Stories". She is a mixed child that is the result of a biracial relationship. Her mother has a hyphenated last name as she had already done research work under her maiden name and didn't want herself to be unrecognized for her work.

\- Wendy getting her arm cut off in the violent way is actually based off of ***RWBY SPOILERS IF YOU HADN'T SEEN VOL. 3!*** the character Yang Xiao Long getting her arm cut off by Adam while trying to save Blake toward the end of the volume.

Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks for reading and all of the support and reviews! Remember, you guys can always ask questions on either one of my tumblrs **jlandersen01 _or_ layla-bartek** Possibly under the **layla-bartek** if you give writing prompts about her/or the fanfic universe I am writing I'll post a little quick-fic or two or have "Layla" respond to some questions if you ask ;)

~ Skye Hendersen ~


	11. Symbiotic

**Chapter 10: Symbiotic**

The dimension that Layla and Dipper had disappeared to was filled to the brim with patrons that were a bright pink in color with large antennae and bright green eyes.

Obviously the two stuck out like sore thumbs, but after what had happed they had to leave the bazar as fast as they could before reinforcements arrived. As they walked Dipper looked around to see the new environment, and things began to look like a stained red. He blinked his eyes multiple times and felt them stinging, and even when he rubbed them red still stained surfaces that he saw.

His heartrate increased, and it seemed like with each beat the red became darker like blood old blood. He could feel that his breathing had quickened, him trying to self-consciously make his breathing slower. His pace slowed, the red that he saw seemingly holding him back.

 _Pine Tree…_

"Dipper!" Layla's voice cut through to him.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Dipper screamed as he pushed her away, his body suddenly engulfed with blue flames.

The people that inhabited the dimension gasped in horror and shock as they saw the flames. Layla had fallen to the ground and forced herself up. "Dipper!" she shouted again. "It's me! Layla! Just calm down and really _see_!"

The blue flames died down, but still quite visible around Dipper. He held his hands in front of him, his brown eyes wide in shock and disbelief. Slowly, the flames sputtered out and Dipper just stood there staring at his hands.

 _How was I able to keep the flames…? That's Bill's power… not mine…_

A slow realization overcame him.

"I _need_ to use Bill's powers…" he barely whispered.

"What…?" Layla questioned, her not understanding.

"I'm saying that I had to be able to use Bill's powers without him taking control over me," Dipper elaborated darkly. "If I can fight Magum without Bill taking over, maybe, just maybe Magum can be defeated and Bill will feel enough at peace to get the hell out of my head."

Layla bit her lower lip. "I don't know if that is going to work…" she softly said.

"I have to try!" Dipper shouted in despair. "He has to leave my head… I can't take it anymore! I feel like I'm losing my sanity!"

Layla flinched at that statement then she slowly nodded. "Okay…" she finally said. A dark looked crossed over her face, something obviously troubling her.

"Layla, what's wrong?" Dipper asked.

"My father had gone insane because of Bill and Magum," Layla stated. "Well, he was already unstable due to the work he was doing, but those two pushed him over the edge."

Dipper once again looked at his hands, both were flame free, but he still felt the tingling sensation of the flames that were once there. He lowered them down to his sides as he gave a sigh. "The thing is," he began. "I don't know where to start…"

Layla ponders for a moment. "Okay… the first thing I can think of is maybe do some research on Demon Soul Bonding. From what I know it's supposed to be a very rare occurrence."

"But… doesn't Magum do it all the time?" Dipper inquired, him raising a brown brow.

"Yes and no," she replied. "He doesn't really _bond_ to their souls. He completely takes it over, killing the soul and within a couple years the body decays and dies."

Dipper flinched. "Sounds awful…" he admitted. He put a hand to his chest, his heartbeat beating steadily beneath his hand. Could Bill consume his soul and kill his body at any time? "So, where do we go to find this information?"

Layla then went to her boot that she kept the picture of Annie in, her pulling out some yellowed paper. She unfolded it and it revealed to be a map with tears and deep creases from age and use. On the map there were multiple red circles and notes in some other language written in the margins.

"When I first escaped Magum," the raven-haired woman began. "I had met someone that told me to go find this one mercenary. He gave me this map and it tells where all natural portals open in this main dimension to go through the sub-dimensions.

"One of these sub-dimensions is so advanced with everything that beings travel the multiverse to get there to learn their amazing ways. They are so far advanced that they no longer speak to each other, it's all telepathic. Regardless of how advanced they personally are, they had a library, a library that dates back millions of years.

"My guess is that these beings were around when the Hierarchy of Demons was a major thing. There had to be some sort of documentation about them and soul bonding." Layla finished.

Dipper felt his pulse quicken. "And… a cure to get rid of it?" he asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper and a little breathlessly.

"That's the idea," Layla replied as she folded up the map. "Let's get going."

With the help of Layla's map they followed the instructions to find the portal for the dimension they were in. The portal was supposed to open in some odd alleyway, the two sitting on the ground waiting patiently for the off-timing of the portal to open. It seemed like they were sitting there for hours on end, Dipper almost nodding off a few times.

"So… what's the most interesting dimension you've been to?" Dipper asked casually, him drawing at the filthy ground with a twig he had found.

"Probably the one where everyone was underwater and a mermaid," Layla responded, a fondness in her voice. "Mermaids are very elegant and I enjoyed that one."

Dipper grunted in acknowledgment of her statement. "I gave a mermaid CPR once," he blurted, him immediately feeling his eyes widen. He should not have mention that.

Layla gave him an odd look, one black brow that was turning silver raised. "And how do you exactly give a mermaid CPR?" she asked, a large smile spread across her face as if trying not to laugh.

Dipper's face immediately turned red. That encounter with Mabel's "Crush of the Week" he hated to know end. The merman had been lying on the forest floor, desperate for water as he had been slowly dying. Dipper, who was twelve at the time, couldn't think of anything to do until Mabel said to give Mermando (odd name now that Dipper was looking back on it) reverse CPR.

"Well… reverse CPR," Dipper corrected. "I basically put water in my mouth and performed CPR."

"And… that worked?" Layla laughed. "That seems very stupid."

Dipper gave a shrug. "It's Gravity Falls, Oregon. Stupid ideas work."

"Was she a pretty mermaid?" Layla teased.

"UM…" Dipper's face had turned into a deep crimson just as a small blue light opened before them.

"Let's go!" Layla ordered as she grabbed Dipper by his arm and dragged him through the portal.

The other side was a brilliant white. Everything seemed to glow in a white hue. The ground that was underneath them was white, the buildings, and the clothing, just everything! It looked as if Dipper had stepped into a world made of the ending of that movie about the android wanting to spend a day with his mother again that aliens granted him.

Silver-skinned beings strutted passed them, their golden eyes looking at Layla and Dipper as though they were insects at the bottom of their shoes. Layla completely ignored it, Dipper having a feeling that she was used to that kind of treatment.

"From what I remember the library is in the downtown area." Layla commented as she led Dipper through the streets.

It took a few minutes but Layla had found a large elegant silver building that had statues of books around the building a large symbol of the "All Seeing Eye" embedded front and center of the building. The eye seemed to follow Dipper, him feeling uneasy as it reminded him deeply of Bill.

Inside the building everything was a bright white and silver, causing Dipper to squint against the brightness of it all. Obviously the two stuck out like a sore thumb, and the odd looks from the receptionist confirmed that getting into the library wouldn't be easy.

Layla stared intently at the woman that wore a white dress with golden deigns of books sewn into the fabric, the golden eyes of the woman looking intently back. The woman then finally shrugged and gave Layla a small silver card with golden letters on it.

"We're good," Layla told Dipper. "Let's go in."

Dipper looked between Layla and the receptionist. The receptionist had a card out for him as well and he gingerly took it. He gave a nod of thanks and followed Layla into the library.

"How'd you do that…?" Dipper questioned.

"I've been here once or twice to learn languages," Layla explained, her glancing at the sections of books trying to find the one she needed. "They can read your minds and the intentions that you may have. She obviously trusted me and what I wanted to seek to award us with these passes." A sound of triumph escaped her as she finally found what she was looking for. "Found it!" she declared, her diving right into the shelves to see what books she needed.

Dipper held the books that she continuously placed into his arms, them getting heavier and heavier by the second. He was used to carrying a large quantity of books and it helped that he was a lot stronger since hunting because he had to drag deer back to campsites. Once there was a pile to the point where Dipper could no longer see Layla she instructed him to a table to set the books to.

The older woman began opening each book, her expertly skimming the pages. With each book she left a piece of paper to mark her spot and continue on to the next the book and marking certain spots.

Dipper looked at the pages before him blankly, him not understanding a lick of any of it. He knew Ford had skills of reading other languages, and once or twice he had asked his great uncle to teach him the languages of the multiverse. Ford had said he would but obviously as Dipper looked at the books the lessons didn't start.

"How do you know all of this?" Dipper inquired.

"Almost fifty years in the multiverse does that to you." Layla replied absently as she marked another page.

Once all the books were marked Layla began to recite a few passages. " _'Since ancient times the Hierarchy of Demons have watched over their respective dimensions. The Axolotls oversaw the rulings and punished those that broke the ancient rules._

" _'_ _Each race of demon oversaw one major dimension, being the guardians of the sub-dimensions. As protectors they have the ability to join forces with someone that inhabited the dimensions to help protect. Although in many ways it is indeed possession the relationship is completely symbiotic. This meaning that the inhabitant of the dimension soul is bound to the demon, the inhabitant having the demon's powers and abilities to an extent._

" _'_ _The process of Soul Bonding is extremely rare. Improper precautions leads to the inhabitant's soul being consumed and the body dies. On many occasions the host dies horribly. Soul Bonding should only be done when in dire need.'_ " Layla concluded as she shut the book. "Sounds fun…" she muttered sarcastically.

"Does it say anything about getting rid of the demon!?" Dipper asked frantically.

Layla went to another open book that she marked the page in. "It states here that the task must be completed before the demon will leave," she informed.

"Are… are… you…" Dipper tried to say but was interrupted with a heavy yawn. His eyes began to flutter and gave another yawn.

"Dipper…?"

"I…"

Blackness.

* * *

 _"_ _So, you know the gig of Soul Bonding now huh, Pine Tree?"_

"Bill…"

Dipper stood before the floating triangle, the demon's body glowing in a golden light. They were both surrounded by complete darkness, Dipper standing on seemingly nothing.

 _"_ _Soul Bonding isn't an easy thing kid, I practically almost killed old Fordsy."_

"Why… me…?"

The Dream Demon shrugged. _"Call it what you want. Fate. Destiny. Whatever."_

"According to the passage that Layla read that a task has to be completed. You had said our souls were bound in that fight in Gravity Falls…"

Bill rolled his eye. _"That by the way was_ extremely fun and painful _,"_ he growled sarcastically.

Dipper grimaced at that statement. "Um… sorry…?"

Bill gave a huff in response.

Dipper shook his head as he continued, "Anyway… obviously a threat has arisen and we _have_ work together. The threat is Magum. You want to get rid of him and my family wants to get rid of him. Together we can eliminate the threat. You'll leave my head and be free or whatever, and then finally I can get better."

Bill seemed to ponder on that for a moment. He then finally held out his hand, his hand in blue flames. _"Sounds like a deal, Pine-"_

"Oh no," Dipper interrupted. "There is no deal. It's symbiotic! We _help each other out!_ "

Bill squinted his eye. _"Oh… so, you want to do what the ancient texts say and have some of my abilities?"_ he presumed.

"I'm not letting you take over my body to kill innocent people again, Bill!" Dipper declared.

 _"_ _Those guards were going to kill us, Pine Tree!"_

"You let me do things my way!" Dipper insisted. "Human life isn't insignificant, Bill! It's almost like saying someone insisted that your race of demons were insignificant!"

 _"_ _One_ did _, Pine Tree. One that I considered my friend."_

"Then we have to work together to get rid of Magum then."

 _"_ _So… that means you forgive me?"_

"I didn't say that. You just need to lend me your powers more for me to have control."

Silence for a moment, Bill just floating there. He then squinted his eye and folded his arms over his chest. _"Fine, Pine Tree. We'll… work together. I'll let you use my abilities more."_

"Good."

* * *

Dipper gasped as he felt being shaken awake suddenly.

"Dipper!" he heard Layla hiss urgently. "Are you okay?"

The brunette blinked open his eyes, him momentarily blinded from the pure white environment. He blinked a few times, trying to get used to the white room again.

"Yeah," he replied softly. "I'm fine…"

Layla gave him worried electric blue eyes. "Was… was _he_ …?"

"There in the dream, yes." Dipper confirmed as he put a hand to his head gently. "I think him and I have an understanding now… I just need to learn how to use the powers properly…"

The older woman bit her lower lip and her eyes darted to the corner. "Well… I know a place that has some equipment for you to train with," she finally said after a few moments.

"Where?" Dipper questioned, him giving her large brown eyes.

"One of Magum's original headquarters."

* * *

A heavy door creaked open with effort, grunts coming from both Layla and Dipper as they used all of their strength to open the rusted shut door.

Inside looked like a normal warehouse to Dipper, everything an odd brown/gray color covered in layers of dust. However, once he stepped inside everything was lit up and looked brand new, equipment littering the floor. He had to blink his eyes a few times to try to confirm if what he was seeing was real.

"Wait… what?" he gasped when he finally realized it wasn't an illusion.

Layla took a few steps inside, her hands tracing over a wall with a target that was covered in holes. "Magum kept things hidden very well. That was part of being the kind of demon he is, he can manipulate things telepathically, like a special barrier for these kinds of places," she explained as her steps echoed as she walked.

Dipper saw the pained expression on her face. It looked like she was haunted by visions of the past, her wrapping her arms around herself and looking as though she was going to cry. Suddenly he felt terrible that they were there.

"Um… Layla, we can leave if you want-" Dipper began but was cut off by her.

"No, you need to learn to use Bill's powers," Layla insisted as she walked over to a console. She pressed a button and a machine began to whir loudly, the sound filling the room with a loud hum. "First is target practice. Use the fire."

Dipper gave a firm nod as he walked into a small red square that was on the floor about ten yards away from the target. He took a deep breath as he stared at his hand, waiting for fire to show up.

But nothing did.

 _Help me out here, Bill! What am I supposed to do?!_ Dipper frantically screamed in his inner mind.

 _Concentrate, Pine Tree._ The voice of Bill echoed. _Imagine the fire there and bend it to your will._

He took another deep breath and looked at his hand again. Dipper imagined the familiar blue flames in a shape of a ball. After a moment or two his hand tingled and the fireball appeared before him.

"Whoa!" Dipper yelled as he moved his hand back, dropping the fireball to the ground. The blue flames sputtered out to a gray smoke, leaving the floor behind charred. "Wow… that was weird!"

Layla gave him a thumbs up with her left hand, which looked odd as she technically didn't have a full thumb.

Dipper began to concentrate more and soon felt blue flames licking up his forearms and he was able to snap his fingers, sending the flames to the targets. If Dipper was honest with himself he would admit that he felt pretty powerful able to use the flames to his advantage. After a few minutes of sending the flames to the targets he felt something heavy in his right hand.

In his right hand was a glint of familiar silver. It was the sword that Bill had summoned so many times when he had possessed Dipper and went on murder sprees. The blade itself was a brilliant silver with a light blue aura around it, the hilt a pure black with gold decorating it. The sword wasn't too heavy, at first it just took him by surprise, and it fit into his hand quite perfectly.

"Wait… didn't you use that at-?" Layla began.

"The bazaar? Yeah… I had used it before too," Dipper finished.

"Do… you know how to use a sword as… you?" Layla then asked him, curiosity in her voice.

"Not… really," he admitted, him taking a few tentative swings with the sword. "But… I guess I should learn."

Layla then led Dipper to a different part of the room where there were powered down robots that looked rusted and dusty. A few minutes later and they started to boot up, their black eyes lighting up to a pure white. They stepped forward, their feet clunking to the ground loudly, as they made their way towards him.

Hesitantly, Dipper lifted the sword. He had no idea if he was even holding it properly, the only time he had ever held a sword as himself was when he and Ford were playing a game for their lives in DD&MD, and even then he wasn't paying attention to know if he was properly holding it.

"Dipper, don't be scared of it!" Layla called out to him as she sat at the control panel.

"I'm not scared of the robot!"

"I'm not talking about the damn robot!"

He then realized that she was talking about the sword. As he stared at the sword, completely ignoring the robot, he did realize that he was scared of the sword. While Bill had full possession of his body so many people were killed by this, scarlet staining the silver. His hand began to shake uncontrollably.

 _Dipper, I know this is something you prefer not to do… but sometimes… we just have to do things we don't want to._

The words of Stan had echoed in Dipper's mind, the words that Stan had first said when he was showing the young twins how to shoot. At first he didn't want to do so, but now after a couple of years he had appreciated being taught as it had saved his, Mabel's, and other people he cared about in his life multiple times.

 _Dipper! You can't be afraid of it! Think of it as an extension of yourself!_

Suddenly, the sword stopped shaking in his hand. He gripped the hilt tightly and raised it, the robot now dangerously close to him, an arm extended.

 _An extension of myself…_

As the robot reached for him Dipper darted to his left, missing the grip of the mechanical machine by a couple of seconds. With the sword in his right hand he raised it to strike at the robot's exposed flank. The robot then seemed to have activated a defensive mode as it suddenly blocked the strike.

Dipper grunted with annoyance as he darted to the left again and lunged forward, the tip of the sword just barely touching the metal. The robot grabbed at Dipper, the mechanical hands grasping Dipper's neck.

A gasp escaped Layla as she tried to find a button that would deactivate the robot, her electric blue eyes wide with panic.

However, Dipper gave a slight smirk as the sword began to become covered in blue flames. With a flick of his wrist the blade sliced through the mechanical arm, a black oil spewing out and staining the floor, the grip loosening from Dipper's neck. Without a second thought he then thrusted the sword into the chest of the robot, the tip of the sword poking through the robot's back. The glowing eyes of the robot began to dim and soon went pitch black, it finally deactivating with death.

"Dipper!" he heard Layla scream as she ran up to him. She put both hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her, which looked odd as he was about half a foot taller than her. "Are you okay?! Did it hurt you!?"

"I'm fine," Dipper assured as he rubbed his neck, almost forgetting that moments ago his life was being choked out of him. "That was a lot easier than I thought would be."

 _Not bad kid, not bad at all!_

"You looked like that you have been doing that your whole life," Layla complimented. "Good job."

Dipper trained with those robots for a few more hours, him becoming more advanced with each robot defeated. Once the last robot was defeated Layla shut down the system, the room powering down. The brunette teenager stood next to the last robot that he had defeated, the sword disappearing in blue flames to nothing, him panting.

"That seems to be good enough for now," Layla informed him. "Other warehouses have these kind of things too."

"Okay," Dipper absently replied as he gently kicked a piece of metal to the side. "I still prefer using a sniper rifle though…" Layla was about to reply when her eyes suddenly widened. "Um, Layla…?"

"Shh!" she ordered, her ears seemingly perking up. Cautiously she left the control console and tip-toed around the floor, her hand going to her gun. Her body went rigid as she spun around and ran past Dipper, her grabbing his arm as she passed. "RUN!" she screamed.

Dipper didn't need to be told twice, he knew this woman knew more about the multiverse than him, and possibly even more than Ford. He ran alongside her, him trying to turn his head around to see who or _what_ was chasing them.

"Keep running!" Layla shouted.

However, before Dipper could even ask who was chasing after him he felt his whole body burn. A scream escaped him as he collapsed to the ground, his body and muscles twitching uncontrollably. Dipper managed to glance down, noticing that some metal prongs were sunk into his leg.

"What the – AH!" another surge of the burning sensation went through him.

"Dip- AH!" Layla's high pitch scream joined his pained ones as she collapsed, her body twitching.

Something stepped over to them, Dipper barely making it out as his vision began to blur. It spoke in some language that Dipper obviously didn't know. Before Dipper could demand who they were, a boot kicked him to his face and his vision went black.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey guys! Sorry about the late update!

Here we see Dipper and Bill finally starting to possibly work together!

Thanks for reading as always guys! And thank you for all the support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	12. Taken

**Chapter 11: Taken**

 _ **WARNING: There may be things in the chapter that might be uncomfortable. There is mention of trafficking and people as prizes to be won. If you are uncomfortable with these kinds of subjects then it is heavily advised that you do not read this chapter.**_

* * *

Ford had been used to traveling through a portal at one point in his life, but after the couple of years of not running for his life he felt his stomach was still back in Dr. Bartek's basement in Gravity Falls.

The sub-dimension that they had entered was busy and filled to the brim with many beings scurrying around. Each being looked different, but all of them had something in common: wearing trench coats with many weapons strapped onto their backs.

Ford felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had been there before. After a few moments of him glancing around, he knew he had been there before. They were in a specific sub-dimension that specialized in hiring mercenaries for various jobs. Robbery, assassinations, slave-trades, sex-trades, you name it these people were hiring for it.

 _This is where I first ended up… this is where Bill announced that he wanted my head on a silver platter. I… I met Layla here._

"Hey, Sixer, you okay?" the gruff voice of his twin startled Ford for a moment and he had flinched. "Oh… sorry… I didn't realize you were really thinking about something…"

"This is a mercenary dimension," Ford quickly explained. "Which means we need to be extra careful." He then looked to the girls that were in the group, him seeing that Pacifica was holding Blythe and balancing the young girl on her hip, and that Mabel and Annie were standing close to each other. "You girls really need to stay close, you can get snatched up quite easily."

"Y-Yeah," Rick agreed, drool and leftover alcohol dripping from his chin. "A-And a-a-a-as humans y-y-y-you will fetch a h-h-h-high price." He then looked at Morty and George. "Y-y-you two stay close too." Morty looked extremely uncomfortable at the mention of that and he took a step closer to his grandfather. For once, as far as Ford had seen, the grandfather was friendly and gave the boy a slight pat on his head.

Mabel immediately grabbed George by his hand and stood close to Stan. The old man gave her a small half-hug and rubbed her shoulder for comfort. Annie however still stood a little ways away, her brown eyes glaring around her. Ford could tell that she had also been there before.

"Annie-" Ford tried to say, but much like her mother she snapped, "I know how to handle myself! I don't need a babysitter!" Ford held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry," he muttered as he walked a little ways ahead.

"You… recognize this place, don't ya, Sixer?" Stan had followed him, concern in his voice.

"This was the place I ended up that night…" Ford admitted. "I spent the night in a cave during a snow storm and came here."

A sound escaped Stan, almost like he choked on air. "I… I'm sorry, Stanford…" the old conman tearfully apologized.

Ford turned around, seeing the extreme pained expression in his twin's face. Stan looked like as though someone just told him everyone he cared about was dead. The old conman's face was pale and his brown eyes were wide as his body shook.

"Stanley-"

"I sent you here… I sent you to this godforsaken place…"

Ford had enough of Stan blaming himself. While Stan was the one that pushed him into the gravitational poll of the portal, it was Ford's fault for being so self-centered and prideful. His arrogance is what cost him his sanity, his life on Earth, and his family. He finally put his hands on Stan's shoulders and forced his twin to look him in the eyes.

"Stanley, I don't blame you for any of this," Ford firmly told him. "I may have in the past, but I don't blame you now."

"But-"

"There is no 'buts' about it! If I didn't come here I wouldn't have met someone I really cared for and I wouldn't be getting know my daughter now would I?

Stan stared at him for a moment, seemingly loss for words. He finally then gave a small smile. "I'm sure in whatever multiverse, alternate universe, or whatever the hell else there is, you three are extremely happy and not dealing with this bullshit," he finally said.

Ford gave a small smile in return. "I'm sure we are all happy in some different universe."

When Ford turned around with Stan to go back towards the group they both saw Annie standing there with a smile on her face, tears in the corners of her eyes. Without a word she went and hugged Ford, her small arms wrapped around his torso.

By that gesture Ford could only assume that she had overheard the conversation. A sad thought graced his mind that he could've had a lot more of those tender kind of moments when she was a little girl growing up.

"Come on," Ford said to her gently. "Let's find your mother and cousin."

"Of course!" Annie replied as she looked up at him, her brown eyes beaming. Ford couldn't help but think that Annie looked quite similar to Mabel.

Ford, Stan, and Annie walked back to the group seeing that Rick just plucked a hair from Mabel's head.

"Ow!" the teenaged brunette squealed. "What the hell was that for!?"

"Y-Y-You're a twin r-r-r-right?" Rick drunkenly asked her, his eyes not leaving his device.

"Yeah…"

"T-T-Then I can use you DNA to find him, since they are so similar."

"Wouldn't that work better if they were identical twins?" Pacifica then asked.

Rick rolled his eyes. "Siblings s-s-s-still have similar DNA, although…" He looked at his device as the prong kept pointing between Mabel, Annie, Ford, and Stan. "I forgot that you _Pines_ have similar DNA… damn it…"

Stan snapped, "So, what, we can't find Dipper now!?"

Rick then went up to Annie and plucked a hair from her head. "OW! Asshole!" she had screamed at him as he ignored her.

"Wouldn't that do the same thing?" George questioned, seeing Rick adjust his device.

"N-N-Not unless I use the DNA to look for her mother's part…" Rick replied as the device began to beep steadily. "Aha! There we go!"

"Okay, so now we have a steady connection," Ford declared, him looking over Rick's shoulder. "But… what if Dipper and Layla aren't in the same area?"

"Eh, we'll get there when we get there," Rick replied absently.

Rick began to lead the way, his device steadily beeping. As they walked down the alleyways and roads Ford glanced around.

 _Really hasn't changed much…_

Never in his life after returning home that would he have to go through an interdimensional portal again. The first full day of him returning home was home was destroying his portal with great anger and self-loathing. Even if he had truly wanted his revenge on Magum, he knew he had to take care of Bill first, so destroying the portal was a good option, and that meant that Magum couldn't jump between the large dimensions.

Rick had been paying attention too much to his device and he ran into one of the mercenaries, him muttering about how they need to get out of his way and reaching for his laser gun before Ford pushed him along and said an apology to the mercenary. The old scientist gave Rick a hard glare, but of course he was ignored. However, as they continued walking Ford noticed that the mercenary was giving both Mabel and Annie intrigued looks, as though he recognized them.

Immediately Ford let Rick go on ahead and went to Stan. "Just follow Rick for me please, I'll stand by Annie and Mabel," he urgently whispered to his twin.

"Is something looking at them?" Stan replied, his voice hard as stone. "I swear I'll kill-"

"I got this, Stanley," Ford assured his twin. After Stan gave a small nod in understanding he went and followed Rick, the old conman immediately getting annoyed on how Rick was drunkenly leading them all. Ford went by Mabel and Annie, him noting how Mabel was holding George's hand tightly and stuck to Ford's side like glue. Annie however, she still stood a little ways away.

 _If I ask her to stand closer to me she'll yell at me…_ Ford thought bitterly to himself. _She's an adult technically yes, but there is still concern here…_ So Ford did the next best thing, he slowed his pace slightly and Annie ended up being next to him on his other side. Annie didn't seem to really notice, her brown eyes eyeing everyone around her with her hand on her gun to be ready to strike.

An uneasy feeling fell over Ford, he felt as though he were being watched. He absolutely _hated_ that feeling. It reminded him of Bill Cipher and the constant stalking, the feeling of eyes everywhere. Without even thinking he took a step closer to Annie, thus dragging Mabel and George along with him. Annie gave him a side glare but then continued to look around.

As they continued to walk Ford felt more uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. He tried to stay calm and think rationally through the situation; after all the last time he let this overcome him it nearly killed Layla from being poisoned.

"George!" Mabel then screamed, her stopping and forces Ford to stop as well. The dark blonde was collapsed on the ground, something sticking out from his neck. Upon further inspection Ford saw that it was tranquilizer needle.

More of those needles began to shoot in their direction, and before one could hit Mabel Ford pushed her to the ground. Annie whipped out her gun with blinding speed, but Ford pushed her out of the way too before something hit her. Ford managed to get the others to follow him to the alleyway for safety, all of them dodging the needles effortlessly. Now Ford was sure that Mabel and Annie were the targets, but for what reason?

"S-S-Shit!" Rick exclaimed, his device shattering on the ground with a needled embedded within the metal. "Mercenaries!"

"For what reason!?" Morty then shouted, his hands to his head. "Who would want us!?"

"Magum must've sent them…" Ford assumed as he dragged George's body further down deeper into the alleyway. Mabel followed suit with Pacifica in tow, Blythe hugged tightly to the blonde's chest. Everyone else scurried behind, Morty looking back occasionally but was forced forward by Rick. "Because of Annie leaving to find me Magum must want her back."

"Then why are they shooting at Mabel too?" Pacifica asked, her arms tightly around Blythe. Pacifica looked stricken, and she tried her best to make sure that Blythe was out of harm's way and to keep the small girl calm.

Ford propped George up against the wall and began tapping his face as an effort to wake him up. "Because they look very similar," he responded to Pacifica. He then glanced at Mabel and Annie, who were standing side-by-side. Although their head shapes, noses, and eye shapes were a bit different, at a quick glance they could definitely be mistaken for each other. "My guess is that when Magum sent these mercenaries he only told very basic things."

"Like a girl with brown, curly hair and brown eyes?" Stan provided. "That happens to be hanging around you?"

"Most likely…"

George groaned as he blinked open his eyes. "Wh…what happened?" he sounded extremely tired and disorientated.

"Stan, you may have to help George walk," Ford told his twin, the response being a firm nod.

Ford then ran down the alley to the end and peeked his head around the corner of the alleyway, him noting the one mercenary that Rick had ticked off earlier and a few others. They all wore a similar uniform of skintight black leather, a symbol that looked to be a water drop with an "X" through it that was in bright blue and red. Weapons were strapped to their backs, very deadly ones that Ford could see, and in their hands were tranquilizer guns.

"S-S-S-Seems that M-Magum wants Annie alive…" Rick said from next to Ford, causing the old scientist to jump. "Probably for i-i-i-insubordination."

"Damn it…" Ford growled as his hand slowly went to his side for his gun. "We'd have to fight them off…"

"O-O-Or-" Rick began but then belched in midsentence. He continued, "I can do this." He then took out his portal gun and pointed at the ground of the mercenaries. The green portal opened and they looked down as they began to fall. The portal then closed and Rick put away his gun and replacing it in his hand with a flask. He took a swig of it and put it back in his jacket. "And done. Was that s-s-s-so hard?"

Ford sighed. There was no reason to argue with Rick. A bloodcurdling scream then froze the blood in Ford's vein, a scream that sounded so distressed that his body went numb.

Mabel.

Ford spun around in a flash, him rushing to deep inside the alleyway where he thought it had been safe. When Ford arrived Stan was against the wall by one mercenary, his already cut up face from the previous car accident worsening as blood dripped from a broken nose. George was suspended in the air by some kind of tractor beam, a faint red glow around the boy as his body was twisted painfully. Annie was also against a wall, her back against it and she was trying desperately trying to fend off a mercenary that was trying to pin her.

Ford went after his gun and shot the mercenary that was trying to pin Annie, then he shot the one with George, then the one with Stan. The mercenaries put hands to their wounds, but they were still willing to fight. Ford tried to give a quick glance around, him noting that he could not see Mabel, Pacifica, Blythe, or Morty.

"Where are those kids, you bastards!?" Ford roared in anger, him changing the beam intensity in his gun. "Where are they!?"

Rick finally caught up to Ford, him then eyeing around. The drunk scientist's eyes widen with realization. "W-Where is Morty…!?" he shouted. "You diabolical sons of bitches! Where is my grandson!? I swear I-I-I'll go to your home world, kill every one of your people as you watch and torture you slowly you'd wish I'll just pull the trigger! BUT I WON'T!" Rick had then pulled out his laser pistol, him aiming with deadly accuracy.

One mercenary aimed his own gun, ready to shoot. Ford would normally shoot in self-defense, but he needed the possible information to save he kids. They muttered something in some language that Ford barely recognized, something about an arena.

"WHERE ARE THE KIDS!?" Ford heard Stan roar with such a high intensity that Ford thought for a moment it was their father screaming at them for doing something wrong. Stan had then jumped onto the back of the mercenary that was aiming towards Ford and Rick, the old conman putting the mercenary in some kind of choke hold.

The mercenary was distracted long enough for Ford and Rick to take the other two out before they could think to attack. Annie had then rushed to the mercenary that Stan was choking and she went underneath the legs and ended up directly in front of the mercenary. As Stan continued to choke the mercenary Annie pulled her gun up directly under the chin of their attacker.

"Let go, Uncle Stan!" Annie ordered. Stan obeyed and let go, Annie pulling the trigger of her gun. The beam of energy shot through the head and went out in an angle through the brain. The mercenary's eyes glazed over and it collapsed dead.

"Stanley!" Ford shouted as he rushed to his twin. "What happened!?" At that point he gripped Stan's shoulders, shaking him. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?"

Stan angrily removed his twin's hands. "I don't know!" he shouted back. "One moment everything was okay and then suddenly I was being pinned against the wall with my face getting bashed in." Blood was still trickling from his nose, bruising starting to go around his eyes.

"Oh my God… Stan, are you-?"

"I've had worse." Stan grimly replied. "But… one took Mabel and the others… Oh my God… I couldn't protect those kids…!"

Ford tried to search through his memory banks on the various languages that he had learned during his time in the multiverse. He only recognized a string of words from the one mercenary, it talked about an arena and what Ford guessed was a fight.

"Rick, do you know anything about an arena with fighting here?" Ford demanded from the drunk scientist.

Rick was still gripping his gun so hard that his knuckles were white. He was seething anger and shaking. Despite how Rick's personality was Ford could tell that the man did deeply care about his grandson, he just had a funny way of showing it.

Rick finally then took a deep breath, him reaching into his lab coat and replacing his gun with his flask. He took a large swig of it, it almost scared Ford that the man was going to drown himself in the infinite alcohol. Finally, he stopped drinking and muttered, "Sometimes they h-h-h-have some sort of g-g-g-gladiator battle…" His face looked dark and grim.

"Gladiator battle…?" George gasped. The dark blonde had limped over to him, his right leg twisted oddly, obviously broken. "What for…?"

"Possibly bets," Rick continued, his voice getting darker. "They h-h-have fights and the young girls could be prizes. E-E-Especially virgins, they're a much h-h-h-higher form of prize."

Stan looked as though an aneurysm was going to pop in his head. "They _dare_ try to use my little pumpkin as some sort of sexual _prize_!?" he growled menacingly. He then stomped over to Rick and grabbed the taller man and pulled him down close to his face. " _Where is this damn arena?!_ "

"That, I don't know," Rick informed Stan with a deadly calm voice. "I am just as furious as you. They took Morty, he is a weak little kid, and of course they'd grab him over that kid!" He had then gestured to George. "But, I have a few guesses as there are a-a-a-a few arenas."

Annie then approached Stan and Rick, her calmly removing Stan's hands from Rick's coat.

"Then we better start looking," she said grimly.

* * *

Mabel felt her head ache terribly as she felt her back against the stone cold floor.

She barely wanted to even remember what happened, but the scene replayed in her head like a movie. She was standing by Stan until he was suddenly thrown against the wall, his head being bashed in. Mabel remembered screaming, almost like herself was being hurt but she was afraid that her great uncle was about to be killed.

George had tried to run to Stan to possibly help, but something large and metal was thrown at his right leg. There was a loud snap and George had collapsed, him yowling in pain. He was then ascended into the air with a tractor beam to keep him in place.

Annie had also been thrown against the wall, her trying to fight off whoever was attacking her. That was probably a reason why they didn't take her, she was too much of a fight and wasn't worth it.

A scream had been heard from Pacifica and cry from Blythe, then there was nothing. Mabel looked over to Morty and he had been hyperventilating, him trying desperately to look around to see if his grandfather was going to come from around the corner to save him.

A hand grabbed around Morty's waist and he screamed with fear. "Help!" he had shouted. "L-Let me go!"

"Morty!" Mabel had shouted to him, her reaching out.

However, her attempt to try to help him was to no avail. A hand went over her mouth to stifle another scream and something was poked into her neck. Her eyes had then gotten heavy and soon she was unconscious.

Now that Mabel had awoken and saw that she was in some sort of cell she gave herself a look over. She seemed to be fine, no pain anywhere. She sighed with relief.

"Paz?" she then called out. "Blythe…? Morty…?" Her voice echoed around her with no response from anyone else. She then sniffled, tears falling down her cheeks. "Anyone…?"

"MABEL!?" a voice shouted back, a voice she recognized like it was her own.

"DIPPER!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Cliffhanger!

Thanks for reading as always and all of the support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	13. The Arena

**Chapter 12: The Arena**

Darkness had surrounded him, almost like a black void of nothingness, he couldn't even see his own hands; it was almost like he didn't exist.

A sudden bright light blinded him and he was shoved forward, Dipper stumbling as he didn't even know where his feet was. His body collapsed into sand, his hands and face being burned from the heat of it.

 _Where the hell am I…?_

Slowly his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He was surrounded by sand, but like him other beings were in the sand, one including Layla who was a few feet next to him to his right. They were on some lower floor as a circular wall surrounded them all, but above the wall were seats full of cheering beings.

"L-Layla…?" Dipper called to Layla. Layla looked over to him and he could see that she breathed with a sigh of relief. "What the hell is going on?"

Layla took a few steps towards him, but when she took that fourth step she was visibly shocked and she scooted back over to where she originally stood, he rubbing herself. "A gladiator battle!" she called back, Dipper understanding that she had to scream over to him over the noise.

"What for!?"

"Eh, depends on the situation!"

Dipper didn't like the sound of that.

Immediately he went to his sides, feeling that he had no weapons whatsoever. He could only assume that Layla didn't have hers as well.

With that a loud horn blared overhead and suddenly the others in the arena charged forward. Layla made her way to Dipper in a flash, her standing protectively in front of him.

"You think you can fight any of these guys?" Layla asked him.

"I… I don't know…" Dipper admitted.

"Then we run like hell."

Dipper didn't need to be told twice about that. As soon as she said that some large ape-like monster was barreling towards them. Dipper managed to side step, as did Layla the opposite way, and the monster crashed into the wall. The wall cracked and a few chunks fell and hit the beast in its head.

The crowd cheered at the sight of the mayhem, some were even booing at possibly their favorite getting hurt so soon and throwing food into the arena. The beast then removed its head from the wall and shook it, giving a hard glare to both Layla and Dipper.

Dipper ran towards Layla and she grabbed his hand to run ahead of him. Other monsters were fighting each other, making it easy for both Layla and Dipper to slip under the radar.

"What situation is this then for a gladiator battle!?" Dipper frantically asked Layla.

Layla was looking up at the stands. Finally she saw what she wanted and pointed at it. "This is solely for entertainment," she replied. "The winner becomes a personal champion to some royal in this dimension."

"Champion…?" Dipper echoed, him not liking the idea.

"Yes. They fight until they die and the winner of that battle becomes the new champion."

"But why us humans!?"

"Because most likely they've never seen one and never seen one fight," Layla assumed lightly. "We may be smaller but who knows we might pack a big punch."

"You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing…" Dipper commented.

Layla gave a small shrug. "Eh, when you've been here for nearly fifty years you get yourself into these situations from time to time," she replied nonchalantly.

Dipper raised a brown brow. "And… what did you do…?"

"I won."

With that Layla pushed Dipper out of the way when the ape-monster barreled towards them. Before Dipper could even shout Layla had already jumped upwards, using the outstretched arm of the monster as a platform and jump onto its head. The ape-monster stopped in its tracks, shaking its whole body to get Layla off if it, but she held on tightly. She then reached into her boot and pulled out a hidden knife, something that obviously the people that took them didn't retrieve. Without a hesitation she stuck the knife into the monster's neck and twisted, causing the beast to yowl in pain and try to reach towards her. She twisted it deeper and deeper until she then removed it, a river of dark blue blood pouring out of the wound. Layla jumped down from the monster as its life's blood drained from it, her flipping her hair dramatically as the beast finally fell to the sand with its blood staining it.

Dipper had his mouth open agape. He didn't realize that she would be so agile at her older age. In a way it was like seeing Ford in action, despite the fact that he himself was older as well, he knew his way of fighting too.

The crowd booed at the sight of the monster dead, apparently it was the original champion. Things were being thrown at Layla, a few of them hit her in the head, but she ignored it. Her small victory was short lived when she was suddenly grabbed by some crab-looking monster and tossed to the side. She screamed as her body tumbled in the sand and slammed into the wall.

"Layla!" Dipper screamed fearfully. The woman laid there unmoving. Dipper went to rush to her side but he was then grabbed by the same monster. "HEY! LET ME GO!"

The monster tightened its dark brown claws around the teenager, him feeling his circulation cutting off. Dipper desperately tried to pound the claws with his fists, but the brown shell was too thick to cause any damage.

That was when Dipper had an idea.

 _I have to… even though I really don't want to, this is a kill or be killed kind of situation!_

With that thought in mind his sword materialized in his hand. The crab monster's beady black eyes widened with surprise. Dipper then used the sword and stabbed through the shell of the claw and into is soft flesh underneath. The monster roared as Dipper was dropped, but he landed in the sand on his feet. Blood dripped onto the sand, the sand becoming a dark purple. A roar escaped the monster as it lifted up its second claw.

As the claw came down over Dipper he held the sword confidently. With a flick of his wrist and shine of silver the claw fell beside him, the sand muddy from blood. The crab monster screamed in agony and pain, so Dipper put it out of its misery quickly, him rushing forward with his sword in hand. He slid under the monster, ignoring the blood in the sand, and thrusting the sword into the soft underbelly of the monster. The body of the crab went rigid, Dipper knowing he stabbed the heart, and the body began to crumple within itself. Swiftly, Dipper rolled away to avoid being crushed.

More booing erupted in the stands, some were a few cheers and claps, but Dipper ignored it. He rushed to Layla, the sword disappearing in blue flames, who was still crumpled in the sand against the wall, him putting his index and middle finger on her neck to check her pulse. A sigh of relief escaped him when he felt a strong pulse underneath his fingertips.

Layla had a large cut in her hairline, the bright scarlet of her blood staining her pale skin. Nausea hit Dipper. The sight of the blood made him want to pass out. He shook his head violently, he couldn't let his hemophobia get the best of him now. He needed to help her by any means necessary.

"Layla!" Dipper shouted as he tapped her face. "Wake up!"

Her eyes blinked open and she groaned. Dipper helped her sit up and she put a hand to her head. Gently she felt her head and removed her hand, her seeing the blood.

"Shit…" she muttered.

"How do we escape this place!?" Dipper yelled, him looking behind him to see that the last two monsters were charging towards them.

"We have to win," Layla darkly told him. Her eyes then widened. "LOOK OUT!"

Dipper turned around just in time to see two sets of claws reaching for him. A tingling sensation bubbled in his veins and his body felt warm. He raised one hand and suddenly a ribbon of blue flames shot from his palm. The flames engulfed the monsters and they screamed in agony, their skin splitting and their life's blood sputtering out from the boiling from within. The monsters collapsed on top of each other, their blood and fats mixing together as a thick black smoke rose from their bodies.

The flames stopped just as fast as they had come, Dipper looing blankly at his hand to see that it was normal. He then turned around and offered a hand to Layla, her taking his hand gently, and he hoisted her up.

"Thanks," she breathed.

All around them there was a unanimous chant. Altogether it sounded as if there was one loud voice. The chanting grew stronger and stronger, louder and louder, the ground beneath both Layla and Dipper shaking as if there was an earthquake.

"What… what are they chanting about…?" Dipper whispered to Layla.

Layla gave him a grim look. "They expect you to kill me, or vice versa," she explained grimly.

"And what if we refuse?" Dipper prodded.

"We both die."

"Great…"

The chanting suddenly stopped, the world around them a deadly silence. A partial part of the wall that was in the area where Layla had pointed to where there were royals slowly moved to the side to reveal stairs. A small figure began to descend the stairs, it wearing a full length white tunic trimmed with gold and wearing a large crown that seemed too big for its head.

When the figure finally stepped before them, it was just a little boy. The boy looked no more to be eight years old.

"From the Earth Dimension you speak English?" the small boy asked, his voice still sounding babyish. He had dark colored skin and large brown eyes, black locks flowing from underneath the golden crown.

"Um… yes…?" Layla replied slowly, clearly confused.

"I am king of this land, _Peur Regem_ August!" the boy declared. "And I demand to know why you two not fight!"

Dipper replied coldly, "She's my great aunt, I can't do that."

"NO!" August screamed in a tantrum. "I WANT DEATH! I WANT YOU TWO TO KILL EACH OTHER!"

"I'm not listening to someone who gets his toga in a bunch," Dipper told the small king flatly. "That and your title is literally _Child King_ in Latin."

"NO!" August screamed again, his dark complexion looking purple with rage.. "If you won't do it now… wait until the next battle!"

"The… next battle…?" Layla echoed, clearly confused. "Why a next battle…?"

"I got more humans!" the child king laughed. "Maybe _then_ I can see some pure bloodshed!"

Dipper shouted with disgust, "You need your head examined, kid!"

"I AM NOT A KID! I AM A KING!" August shouted with a tantrum. He then snapped his small fingers and suddenly a group of guards appeared around him; where they had come from Dipper had no idea. "Seize them! Put them back into the dungeons for the next battle!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the guards bellowed in sync. They then grabbed both Layla and Dipper and began dragging them through the sand.

"Hey!" Layla shouted. "Assholes!"

Before Dipper could try to get his sword to emerge he heard the child king scream, "And knock that _habiti hominum_ so he doesn't cause too much trouble!"

"Wait -!" Dipper's shout of distress was cut off short when something smacked the back of his head and darkness overcame him.

* * *

Coldness ached his body terribly, his muscles cramped and tight.

Slowly, Dipper blinked open his eyes, only seeing darkness. Panic gripped his heart not knowing where he was.

"Layla…?" he softly called out, hoping that she was near him.

There was a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness, Dipper, you're okay!" her voice softly called back.

"More or less…" Dipper admitted.

There was then another voice that echoed in the room. Dipper went dead silent, if he could stop his heart from beating the blood in his body so he could hear better he would. There was something about that voice that was familiar…

"Anyone…?" the voice sniffled.

He _knew_ that voice.

"MABEL!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He knew his twin sister's voice _anywhere_. But… why was she here!?

 _It's her again trying to save me… just like before!_

"DIPPER!" her voice shouted back.

"HOLY SHIT! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

"I GOT KIDNAPPED!"

Even though Dipper could explode with joy that his twin sister was there with him, the feeling dread filled his veins like lead.

She had to be in the arena.

 _They will_ NOT _hurt my sister!_

There was a sudden opening of a door, light pouring in. Shadows of figures entered and then lights were turned on to reveal the dungeon they were in. In the distance Dipper saw Mabel in a small cell, her wearing a pale blue knitted sweater with her shooting star emblem sewn on the front. But what also surprised Dipper was that he saw Pacifica in her own cell, his heart almost stopping when he saw her, and a small little girl in the cell next to her.

"…B-Blythe…?" Dipper gasped to himself. "What is… what is she doing here…?" She was only a little girl! Why would Mabel and Pacifica bring Blythe into a situation like this!?

Guards stood in front of the cells as one pulled a lever to open the doors to the cells. The one guard that was in front of Dipper's cell reached in a grabbed him by his arm and dragged him out. Dipper didn't bother to fight back, he had to save his energy to figure out a way to escape with everyone.

The others were grabbed around him, his hands turning into the fists when he saw Mabel, Pacifica, and Blythe being manhandled so roughly. There was also a boy that Dipper didn't recognize, the boy wearing a yellow t-shirt and simple jeans. The boy and Blythe had to have come with Mabel and Pacifica somehow.

Once again Dipper was tossed into sand and was in the same arena with the crowd cheering with bloodlust. This time however they were all thrown in together so immediately Dipper went to both Mabel and Pacifica and pulled them both into intense hugs.

"Dipper!" Mabel cried out, her brown eyes glistening with tears, as Pacifica shouted with happiness, "Mason!"

"Dippy!" Blythe then cheered, the small girl running up to his leg and hugging it tightly.

"What the hell is she doing here!?" Dipper demanded, his temper rising.

"It's a very, _very_ long story…" Mabel murmured.

"We'll tell you once we get out of here," Pacifica added.

"W-W-Where are we!?" the random boy shouted. "W-W-W-Where are the others!?"

"Geeze," Layla muttered. "This kid makes Rick's drunk stuttering look tame."

"My name is Morty!" the boy shouted. "And it's true you knew my grandpa!?"

Layla replied back in shock, "You're Rick Sanchez's grandson!?"

Mabel's brown eyes went wide when she whipped her head to Layla once she had heard her voice. "Wait!" the young brunette gasped. "Are you… are you Layla Bartek!?"

"Um… yeah…?" Layla answered, her clearly wary.

"You are _so pretty!_ " Mabel shouted with awe.

"And you look very similar to my daughter," Layla chuckled.

"Annie!" Mabel said. "She's here somewhere in this dimension! We were with her!"

Layla's eyes went wide. Clearly she wanted to know information on her daughter, but before she could there was loud sound of steady drumming. The drums were bass drums, each hit getting louder and louder as the crowd in the stands voices chimed down.

"What's… what's going on…?" Pacifica fearfully asked, her inching closer to Dipper.

"Some whiny brat that wants us all to kill each other," Dipper answered grimly. "But, bad news for the Child King, he just got involved with the Pines family!"

"SILENCE!" the high pitch scream of August filled the arena. An eerie dead silence filled the arena. Dipper looked up into the stands and saw that pathetic king sitting on his throne, his feet dangling from the height of the throne. "NOW! THE HUMANS SHALL FIGHT TO THE DEATH!"

"W-W-W-What!?" Morty screamed. "WHY!?"

Dipper had to protect them from getting hurt. But at the same time, did he really want to show that Bill was still with him in his soul? He knew that Mabel would feel terrible, as she had always did when he had lapsed in the past; to her it felt as though wiping his memory was a complete waste of time.

"Hey, Child King!" Dipper taunted. "You messed with the wrong people! I actually know these people and we're gonna go up there and put you in time out!"

"STOP CALLING ME A CHILD! I AM A KING!" August screeched loudly, him standing on top of his throne and jumping up and down in a tantrum. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT YOU _HABITI HOMINUM_!"

That was the second time that August called Dipper that. Dipper wasn't too much into Latin, Ford was though. If Mabel and the others were here, then that meant that Grunkle Ford was there as well, son once he found him he could ask what that phrase meant.

"RELEASE – HUH!?" August screamed in terror as the wall that was next to him exploded, chunks of the wall flying forward and smacking against the guards.

A group entered through the large hole in the wall, all holding some sort of laser rifles that Dipper knew that look slightly familiar.

"Wh-Wh-What up bitches!?" a very drunken voice called out.

"Grandpa Rick!" Morty shouted with relief. "Oh, thank God!"

"Oh good God…" Layla muttered under her breath.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel shouted happily when Stan stepped forward as Dipper screamed, "Grunkle Ford!"

"Hey, kiddos!" Stan called. "We're here to rescue ya!"

August snapped his fingers. "NO! I WILL NOT HAVE THIS!" he yelled in fury. "THIS IS MY KINGDOM AND I WANT THESE HUMANS TO KILL EACH OTHER!" His guards appeared around like a force field.

All Rick did was shoot the guards in their heads and they collapsed with blood pulsing out of their wounds. The child king gasped and tried to take a few steps backwards, but he didn't realize that he was walking off the edge. A scream of terror escaped him as his body plummeted towards the ground.

As much Dipper hated that kid, he couldn't just watch as the small helpless body descended to the ground with a high speeds. If only he could get there fast enough to save August!

A small portal then formed by Dipper, the frame blue flames. He recognized the portals from his time being Bill's puppet. It was one of his.

 _I can do this!_

"Dipper!" he heard Layla scream in panic as he rushed into the portal. His body popped out of another portal that had formed right where he suspected that August would fall. The small body of the child king then landed safely in Dipper's extended arms, although the weight caused Dipper's knees to buckle to the sand.

August's brown eyes were wide with shock and fear, his way too big of a crown lopsided on his head, his black hair showing more. The boy then saw who had saved him and practically jumped out of his arms.

"DEMON!" August shouted with fear as he pointed at Dipper. "You're not a _habiti hominum!_ You're a demon!"

"Look kid, I just saved your life and you're not gonna thank me!?" Dipper exclaimed. "That's a load of bullshit!" He then added with exasperation, "And I don't know what the hell that phrase even means!"

"GET OUT OF MY ARENA!" August screamed with authority. "AS A REWARD FOR SAVING ME TAKE YOUR HUMANS AND LEAVE, AND NEVER RETURN! I WILL NOT HAVE A DEMON BE NEAR ME!"

Dipper gave a small shrug. "I guess I'll take that as thanks," he muttered.

* * *

"Dipper, you're alright!"

Stan had practically broke Dipper's body with a bone-crushing bear hug once everyone was a safe distance away form the arena.

"Same to you, Grunkle Stan!" Dipper laughed. "Even though you got some cuts on your face…"

"I've had way worse, kid!"

Dipper then saw Ford just staring at Layla, not moving. The older woman was giving another woman that looked like Mabel a hug, tears streaming down her face. It looked as though that Ford wanted to move, but he didn't. Dipper took a few steps towards his other great uncle.

"Hey, Grunkle Ford…?" Dipper called out gently to the old scientist.

Ford finally tore his gaze away from Layla and whom Dipper could assume was Annie and stared at Dipper with tear filled brown eyes.

"Dipper…" he said softly. "I…"

"I'm fine," Dipper assured. "But, you should maybe talk to Layla."

"I thought she had been dead for over thirty years, Dipper…" Ford pointed out sadly. "How do I… just go talk to her?"

"Very carefully," Dipper deadpanned.

Ford gave a soft chuckle and then ruffled the boy's hair. "I can see that Layla rubbed off a little on you…" he commented.

"A little," Dipper laughed. His tone then turned serious as he then asked Ford, remembering what August had kept calling him before calling him a straight up demon, "What does ' _habiti hominum'_ mean, Grunkle Ford…?"

A grim expression fell over Ford's face. "That's something we _need_ to talk about…" he darkly replied. "You made a portal, something that I've only seen Bill do and now Magum with the power of the Axolotl."

"Then… what does it mean…?"

"Possessed Human."

* * *

 **A/N:** WOOOO! EVERYONE IS BACK TOGETHER!

"August" is actually Latin for "Exalted", so it fits his royal background. He is also based off how in many cultures, such as in Egypt, there were child kings.

Also, there is going to be a whole chapter dedicated to Ford and Layla having a proper reunion, that's gonna be some fluff.

I have also updated my profile on this site, I have wrote down some future projects, so check them out!

I have also fixed the settings on the layla-bartek Tumblr account. It can now accept submissions, asks, and all that jazz. So please, if there are any questions regarding to the series please ask through Tumblr! It is much easier to respond to those on mobile then on .

I also reblog writing prompts and questions about the OC, so if you guys want to do those kind of asks please do so!

Here is a link, hopefully you can just copy and paste!

Thank you all for reading and continuing with this support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	14. Annie's Memories

**Chapter 13: Annie's Memory**

Annie grunted from her mother's crushing embrace around her torso.

She felt tears in her eyes to see that her mother was okay, that she had escaped Magum with the use of the pitiful portal device that they had built together. Her mother had a small cut on her head, but it seemed to be okay for now as her mother was still acting like her normal self.

"Annabeth, are you okay?!" her mother frantically cried over and over, giving her daughter multiple inspections in a period of five minutes. "Are you hurt!? Any joints hurt!? Inflammation!? Pain!?"

"Mom!" Annie finally had enough and snapped. "I'm okay! I swear! I'm just happy that you're okay!"

Layla bit her lip, her taking a step back. "You know I get worried about your health…"

"I know…"

When Annie was a child, possibly around eight or nine years old, she remembered getting terribly ill. She had felt pain every time she tried to move her joints, how it felt that she couldn't stand without terrible pain and felt extremely weak. Annie remembered her mother begging, literally begging on her hands and knees to Magum, to let one of his medical persons help in any kind of treatment to Annie.

Annie remembered the constant prodding from the strange person, one that looked quite similar, but not exact, in race to what her two caretakers, Mari and Kari, were. The doctor had said she barely studied many human diseases, but two things were perfectly clear from the things that she did see.

She didn't remember exactly what the words were, at the time she had been too weak and ill to even fathom what was wrong with herself.

A few special shots and Annie had felt better within a few weeks, but she remembered her mother crying every night begging her not to die. Ever since that illness spell Layla was overprotective on Annie's health. Overall, Annie couldn't blame her mother for acting the way she did.

There was a soft cough and Annie turned to see that Ford was standing there awkwardly. She could tell that her mother went rigid, tears brimming her electric blue eyes. Annie took a step back to take on the scene, both Ford and her mother looking at each other as if they had seen a ghost.

Finally, after a few minutes of pure silence, even the others around stared and held their breath to hear the first words that the two lost lovers would say to each other after over thirty years, Layla spoke tearfully with almost a sad laugh.

"You've gone gray, Ford." Layla had a small smile through her tears.

"I would say the same for you, but I know you might try to hit me." Ford replied with his own tearful laugh. "It's been… over thirty years…"

"Time really doesn't bode well for me," Layla said sadly with a shrug. "I've lost the sense of time almost half a century ago…"

That hit Annie hard. She didn't realize that her mother felt that way.

"When are you going to kiss already!?" Mabel and Rick's voices shouted, causing everyone to jump nearly out of their skins. Mabel's voice was her usual high and excited tone, while the drunk scientist known as Rick Sanchez was being loud and sarcastic.

Both Layla and Ford blushed into a deep crimson, them trying to avoid eye contact with each other.

"We all know you've at least done _something_ since she's here!" Stan barked out a laugh, him gesturing towards Annie.

 _"_ _STANLEY!"_ Ford managed to finally shout, although his voice shook nervously since he was still quite embarrassed. That didn't stop Stan from laughing and nearly doubling over.

Annie smiled widely. This was the first time in her life that she had ever seen her parents together, it was almost surreal. The more she saw them together the more she could tell that she inherited features from both of them. She could even tell how much they missed each other, even though they were quite embarrassed to show affection; well, mostly Ford anyway.

* * *

 _The small girl was jumping around the cramped room that she and her mother loved in, her dark brow curls bouncing up and down._

 _Her mother, Layla, was observing her greatly, a small yet sad looking smile on her face. When the door suddenly swung open Layla had jumped up and straightened her clothing._

 _"_ _Annie, please stop jumping!" Layla quickly chastised. Once Annie saw who had walked into the room she had immediately stopped. "Please straighten yourself, dear."_

 _Magum had walked in, his soulless white eyes staring straight ahead. He had glared at Annie, causing the small girl to jump, and he then went to look at Layla. It was as if he was comparing…_

 _"_ _That girl looks a lot like her father…" Magum commented, his voice laced with disgust._

 _"_ _Well… I-I guess…" Layla stammered nervously, her rubbing her left hand that had her birth defect. "There's really nothing I can do about that..."_

 _Annie had walked up to her mother as she was talking and tugged at her light blue colored dress. "Mommy… I'm hungry…" she complained. Her small, six-fingered hand gripped the dress tightly, and she could feel the burning glare of Magum._

 _"_ _Learn manners, girl." Magum growled at Annie, the small brunette flinching in fear. He then glared at Layla. "I will be seeing you later. By then, this girl should know not to speak in my presence." All Layla could do was nod as Magum turned at the heel and left the room._

 _"_ _Mommy…?" Annie softly called out. She saw her mother's blue eyes glance at her. "What's a 'father'?" she asked._

 _Layla looked uncomfortable at that question. The raven-haired woman then sat on the bed that the two shared. She patted the spot next to her and watched as her young toddler ran and climbed onto the bed._

 _"_ _A father," Layla began after taking a deep breath. "Is someone that is like a mother, but is a boy, together they love each other and have a little baby."_

 _Annie tilted her head to the side. "Where's my father?" she blurted out._

 _"_ _Uh…" Layla glanced around her, as if trying to find something to change the subject to. "Honey, how about we get you ready for bed?"_

 _"_ _But…"_

 _"_ _No 'buts', it's time for bed."_

* * *

 _A now six-year-old Annie was playing right outside the building that she lived in with her mother, the girl running around in circles chasing some small pink insect._

 _Annie was sent outside by Magum himself due to what he had dubbed "a nuisance". She didn't like the way he had treated her mother, and when she tried to express that she was sent outside. Her mother didn't like it when she went outside without her, but for the time being she seemed to be enjoying herself chasing the insect._

 _The small insect began flying away from the building, causing the girl to pout. She wasn't supposed to be away from the building, but she really had nothing else to do. So, she chased the insect._

 _Soon, the insect left her line of vision. Panic rose in Annie's throat as she skidded to a halt. She didn't know where she was now that she had wandered so far from the building. Tears stung her eyes as she lowered herself to the dirt ground, her surrounded by tall trees and the soft glow of the sun beaming through the leaves. Annie let out a soft wail, her voice echoing around her._

 _Something crawled over her black leggings, it being a bright pink. It immediately caught her attention and she picked it up and saw that it was a salamander. It had what looked like to be dark magenta branches coming off of its head, a small pink tongue sticking out. It looked as though it was trying to play with her._

 _Annie gave a small laugh and let the creature crawl over her hands. It seemed to be very interested with her hands, as if it was counting the amount of fingers she had._

 _"_ _You're silly," the little girl giggled. "They're just hands… just like everyone else."_

 _"_ _They're like your father's," the salamander then said._

 _Annie screamed as she dropped the creature and stood straight up. "EW!" she cried. "WHY WOULD YOU TALK!?" The girl was absolutely terrified._

 _"_ _I am the Axolotl," the creature informed her. "I am here to help you."_

 _Annie tilted her head in confusion. She had no idea what the thing called itself. "Axy-what?"_

 _The Axolotl scurried over to Annie's black flat and put its small hand on it. "Magum is very mean to you, isn't he?" it asked. It noticed that Annie paled at hearing that name. "Magum has the ability to read your mind, and from what I had seen punishes you for it and yells at you." Annie nodded sadly, her brown curls bouncing. "What if I told you that there is a way to protect yourself?"_

 _"_ _Y-you can do that…?" Annie questioned. She had read many books as that is one of the few things she was allowed to do in the large building, but nothing she had read prepared her for this small creature she was playing with._

 _The Axolotl then levitated in the air and did a small flip. Right before Annie's eyes a small crystal came from nowhere and dropped into her six-fingered hands. The crystal was on a black cord, the gem glowing brilliantly. Annie immediately put it on, the cord then shrinking around her neck to be a perfect fit for her._

 _"_ _One day Annabeth you will meet someone very important, someone that won't trust you at first," the Axolotl informed her. "Not only will this crystal protect you from the powers of Magum, but this will help you gain the trust of someone you will meet."_

 _Annie had never felt so free after putting on the necklace. For once she felt that her thoughts were hers and hers alone. A small smile spread on her face._

* * *

 _Seven years had passed since Annie had played with that salamander, a creature she never saw again._

 _The crystal necklace stayed around her neck, the pendant tucked away under her shirt safely. It had suddenly frustrated Magum that he could no longer read her mind and track her down, but she kept that necklace on._

 _"_ _Annabeth," her mother called. "It's time for you to go to bed."_

 _Since Annie has grown they had to move residences, a whole new building which meant a whole new room for her to be forced to be in. The room that she shared with her mother now was a little bit bigger, their sleeping chambers on a small second floor while a kitchen and bathroom was down below._

 _Annie was about to climb up the stairs when she noticed Mari and Kari sitting with her mother. Mari and Kari were only around some of the times, mainly when Magum ordered it, and Annie was always happy to see them._

 _"_ _Mari! Kari!" Annie greeted as she waved. "What are you guys doing here?"_

 _Mari gave a small smile. "Sweetie, we're just here to talk with Layla for a bit."_

 _"_ _Yes," Kari chimed in. "It's been a little bit. But your mother said it was time for you to go to bed. We will talk with you in the morning."_

 _Annie couldn't help but feeling crestfallen at their words. She enjoyed talking with them, but they were right, she was told to go to bed. Annie have her final words of goodnight and climbed up the stairs._

 _However, she did not go to bed like she was asked to._

 _Annie sat at the top of the stairs hidden around the corner. She could hear everything perfectly, and the best was that she could not be seen by her mother._

 _"_ _Layla, are you sure you want to talk about it?" Kari's voice was heard, it laced with worry._

 _Annie didn't hear a reply, she could only assume her mother had nodded. Her ears then perked up when she heard her mother begin to speak._

 _"_ _I know I don't really talk about him… but I should. You see, Annie looks a lot like Ford… the same dark brown hair, the eyes, and right down to his hands as well."_

 _Mari's perky voice then exclaimed, "_ That's _why she has six fingers on each hand!? It's from_ him _!?"_

 _"_ _Yes. And she's smart like him too. He was a research scientist you know. Dr. Stanford Pines. He had twelve PhDs, God only know why…"_

 _Kari's voice then interrupted, "I thought you said his name was Ford?"_

 _"_ _Ford is short for Stanford. It's also the reason why Annie's middle name is Fordley."_

 _The more Annie heard her mother speak, the more she grew curious. She was named after her father in some way? Since when? Annie didn't know, she never knew._

 _Layla began talking more and more, her stories detailed on some of the adventures she and Ford went on. Annie had closed her eyes, letting her imagination take over and play in her head. She could only just imagine how happy her parents were, she could only imagine how exciting her adventures were._

 _After what seemed like hours Layla said goodbye to Mari and Kari, them saying goodnight to her. That was Annie's cue to get to bed as quickly and quietly as possible. Once she was in her bed she closed her eyes, only seconds later to her mother opening the door. Layla got into the same bed as Annie as they had shared the bed, and after a few moments she tapped Annie on the shoulder._

 _"_ _I know you're awake," Layla whispered, her voice teasing._

 _"_ _Mmm," Annie groaned, trying to make it seem like her mother woke her up by getting in bed._

 _"_ _I know you heard everything."_

 _The morning after Annie eavesdropping took a turn for the worse._

 _Suddenly Magum had summoned both her and her mother to the middle of the facility they were in. Once they were there Annie had saw that Mari and Kari were there as well._

 _"_ _My, my, my dear Layla Amelia," Magum degraded, a wolf-like smile plastered on his face. "Did you really think you could just go back on our deal like it never happened?"_

 _Layla kept her eyes level with his, her not even blinking. "I don't know what you're talking about, Magum," she lowly replied._

 _"_ _DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!" Magum roared, red flames suddenly licked the walls around them, burning whatever tapestries were on the walls. "I READ THEIR MINDS, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"_

 _"_ _I know our agreement very well, Magum," Layla levelly said. "I didn't break any rules."_

 _Magum gave her a glare. "DIDN'T BREAK ANY RULES!? YOU BROKE_ ALL OF THEM! _"_

 _"_ _Nope."_

 _Annie had never seen her mother act like this._

Mom! SHUT UP BEFORE HE KILLS US!

 _Magum took a step towards Layla. "_ What _was that?" he demanded._

 _"_ _I didn't break any rules," Layla repeated. "I was simply having a conversation with my friends. It is not my fault that my daughter would decide to eavesdrop."_

 _Annie then realized that her mother and her caretakers had done what they did the night previously on purpose. How could they be so stupid?! Just so that Annie could have a little bit of information about her father!? It wasn't worth it!_

 _Magum then gave a smile, his infamous wolf-like smile. He seemed like he was_ amused _. "You two, stand in front of them," he ordered Mari and Kari. They obediently stood in front of Layla and Annie. Magum then circled over to Annie, him putting his mouth right by her ear. "Now, girl, do you realize what your curious little mind has done?" His voice sent child up Annie's spine, the hair on her arms and the back of her neck standing straight up. He then stood up straight. "Any last words before your execution?"_

EXECUTION!?

 _"_ _NO!" Annie screamed in horror. "Don't hurt them! It's wasn't their fault…! It was mine!" She then got on her knees, just as she had seen her mother do multiple times, and begged, "Please don't hurt them!_ I'll _make a deal with you!"_

 _Magum's face scrunched up with disgust. "I don't want to make_ any _deals with you, you filthy child!" he roared with great distaste. "Besides… you'll be punished soon enough."_

 _"_ _Oh, going to make me go outside again?" Annie challenged, much to her mother's dismay. "I'm just_ shaking _!" she added sarcastically._

 _Magum didn't say a word as he went over to Mari and Kari. "I say again," he told them. "Any last words?"_

 _"_ _Annie!" Mari cried out. "Remember that we love you, okay?"_

 _Kari gave a nod as she added, "We agreed to this on our own accord. We knew the risks."_

 _"_ _You'll meet him one day you know, your father!"_

 _"_ _The day you meet him is the day what we did was worth it."_

 _Annie felt her chest tighten with emotion. They couldn't be saying that! It was like they were accepting death. "No…!" Annie sobbed, tears falling down her face._

 _"_ _And remember, Annie, we would do this all again for you." Mari told her, her voice cracking. "That's how much we love you, we would do this a million times over… each more painful than the last…"_

 _"_ _Mari… Kari…!" was all Annie could squeak out before suddenly seeing nothing but thick, red blood spewing from where their heads used to be. Their heads were thrown at Annie and Layla's feet as the bodies in front of them collapsed with a thud._

 _All blood drained from Annie's face. She couldn't believe it… they were killed,_ executed _, in front of her._

 _"_ _NO!"_

* * *

Annie snapped back into reality, her heart pounding painfully in her chest.

She hadn't thought of Mari and Kari in years… a nightmare that Magum had caused. They had done so much for her and she couldn't do a damn thing to help. But, when she saw her mother and father smiling at each other, she finally understood what kind of sacrifice they had done.

Annie then bowed her head, her hand clutching her pendant as she whispered, "Thank you."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey everyone! It's been a little but hasn't it? I know it's been months since I updated, and I apologize for it.

For those who didn't know, my mother had suddenly passed away in 2016 and I had to become the legal guardian of my little sister. I deal with a lot of legal stuff all the time because of this. I also go to school and I work full time. Although, now I just got a new job, so hopefully my nights are more free so I can write.

I will update more! I promise! I'm sorry it took this long!

Thanks for all of the support, I really appreciate it!

~Skye Hendersen~


	15. A New Component

**Chapter 14: A New Component**

 **NOTE: This chapter does support LBGTQ :)**

* * *

 _"_ _Oh, you pathetic creatures… how you amuse me so."_

The dark chuckle from Magum filled a small throne room he had constructed from the destroyed town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. He had multiple portals open around him, him being able to see his minions ripping through the town and terrorize the citizens that had went into hiding. A dark laugh escaped him to see that his precious minions were providing entertainment.

Out of curiosity he opened a portal to see that old man still at the console of the portal. The white haired boy and the large built man were with him, both darting their eyes around to see if anything was going after them.

 _You'll bring me Bill Cipher soon enough, Stanford Pines… and I can't wait to kill that annoying child that Bill decided to use as a vessel as well._

Magum then opened another portal while closing the others, all of his attention seeing the redheaded girl that he put in place being wheeled on a gurney.

* * *

Shannon sat in the waiting room in her Candy Striper's apron, her bronze hair matted to her face from sweat.

The air conditioning was set on low, so the hospital's heat was at a stable eighty degrees. They had to keep the air conditioning off as much as possible, they hospital was only running on emergency generators. They needed most of the electricity to run dire equipment needed for surgeries, oxygen, and to help with cardiac emergencies.

Shannon took a deep breath and got up from her chair, her beginning to walk back toward Wendy's room. Wendy had been through an emergency procedure where Shannon's mother had managed to close the wound and provide a small blood transfusion. Now the redheaded girl was now resting, her monitors beeping as Shannon entered the room.

A few minutes passed and a soft knock filled the room. Shannon greeted softly for the person to enter, a dark blonde woman with pale skin entering the room with bright green eyes.

"Everything okay…?" the woman asked. She wasn't wearing any uniform, so she wasn't a doctor or even a nurse.

"As far as I can tell, Wendy seems to be just sleeping, Mother." Shannon replied solemnly.

It confused others when she also called this woman her mother, but that was how it was. Her mothers are exactly that, her mothers. Her one mother, Dr. Elizabeth Clover-Brown had married her second mother, Victoria Brown. Biologically she was truly Victoria's daughter, a sperm donor that was from her Dr. Clover-Brown's brother was her father. While it may confuse many people, Shannon Brown was absolutely proud and happy for her two mothers, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Victoria walked over to Wendy, her green eyes gazing at the pile of notes that were on the nightstand. She had personally went to the young teenager's family and informed them of her condition. Immediately Manly Dan and Wendy's brothers came to see her, but they soon had to leave to help the townspeople that were being tortured by monsters and demons.

"This poor girl…" Victoria whispered sadly. "She is brave, but sadly that didn't help her fight that monster…"

Shannon knew her mother was talking about Magum. She had only saw Magum once, just a brief glimpse, but it was all that she needed to know that he was truly a demon.

Another knock was sounded at the door, and once again Shannon greeted for the person to enter. Dr. Clover-Brown then entered, her immediately going to Wendy and checking her vitals and stitches from the procedure.

"Is… is she going to be okay, Mom?" Shannon then asked as she stood up from her seat. She walked over to the unconscious teenager. "How… how do you think she will react to her arm…?"

Dr. Clover-Brown took out her stethoscope from her ears. "Well, Shannon, that I cannot really say. Many people react to amputation differently. Hers was forced, so… it's most likely not going to turn out well," the doctor replied. "But… as far as her physical health, she is stable. Her psychological health… I cannot say."

A groan escaped Wendy as she slowly blinked open her eyes. The heart monitor spiked up as it sense Wendy's panicked heartrate. "Wh-where am I…!?" the redhead demanded, her green eyes darting every which way. She then put her right hand to her head. "And… and why can't I feel my left hand…?"

"Wendy, before you check-" Dr. Clover-Brown was beginning to say, but she was interrupted by the sudden scream of anger and agony that ripped through Wendy's throat.

Where her left arm was it was nothing but a gauze covered stump from just above where the bend of her elbow was. During surgery they had to amputate the limb a little more so that it was cleaner and could heal more properly from the trauma, a procedure called trans-humeral amputation.

Wendy continued to scream, her face turning red as she was barely able to lift her arm due to weakness from post-operation. "TH-THAT BASTARD!" she screamed. "I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!"

Shannon could only assume that she meant Magum.

"Wendy…" Dr. Clover-Brown began in a soothing voice. "I know you are greatly upset… but you must calm down to rest. You just had surgery and a blood transfusion…"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT I JUST HAD!" Wendy furiously roared. "WHERE IS THAT BASTARD?! I'LL KILL HIM MYSELF!"

Victoria then went up to her wife and whispered in her ear, "Lizzy, maybe we should leave her to be alone for a bit… for her to gather her thoughts." Dr. Clover-Brown gave a nod, her giving a paraphrased explanation of what Victoria suggested, and left the room.

Shannon stayed behind in Wendy's room, it was her job as a Candy Striper to help comfort patients.

It was as if Wendy finally noticed that Shannon was there. "Oh… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have used profanity with you here, Shannon." Wendy sniffled. Tears were in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. Wendy knew Shannon because of Gideon as Shannon would sometimes stop by the Shack with Gideon and Soos.

"You have been through something traumatic," Shannon lightly explained. "You have every right to be upset."

Wendy then lifted what was remaining of her left arm. "D-Damn it…" the redhead muttered.

"We may be able to get you a prosthetic arm…" Shannon tried to comfort Wendy. "Or… maybe that scientist you know can make you one…?"

"Ford…?" Wendy blankly questioned. "Dude… if I could get Dr. Pines to make me a badass arm that could shoot lasers or something, that'd be sweet." Wendy had tried to joke, but her voice was monotone and dead. She stared at the empty space where the rest of her arm used to be. "It's weird… it's almost like I can feel that I am moving fingers… but they're not there…"

Phantom limbs was a common sensation that amputees experienced, over half to be exact. Many people who had experienced it reported that there was a lot of pain involved.

"I… I can still feel the moment that the blade cut through me…" Wendy then whispered, her voice hoarse. "It was like… it was almost like… how I would pick up a paper and get a papercut… at first you don't feel it but after a few seconds it's like a never ending pain."

The lights flickered overhead.

"Your dad and brothers visited you earlier," Shannon gently told Wendy, her voice being soft as possible. "They left you a few notes. They had to go help the people in town from the monsters, but they wished you the best."

Wendy gave a ghost of a smile. "What good guys they are…" she lightly chuckled. "You know… it's been just us four for so long… my dad and three brothers…"

"How did your mother pass away?" Shannon asked. She then quickly added, "If you don't want to say that's okay!"

Wendy raised her right hand to silence Shannon. "My mom passed away from breast cancer." Wendy then asked something that shocked Shannon, "I know Dr. Clover-Brown is your mom, so what happened to your dad? Was he a doctor too?"

Shannon blinked. Sometimes it was hard to explain her situation. "Well… the other woman you saw here was my mom too. My biological father was my uncle from Mom's side, the doctor, and my Mother, the blonde, is the one who carried me. I loved my uncle very much, he gave my moms what they always wanted… I was deeply upset that he was killed during Weirdmageddon…"

The lights then completely flickered out.

"Oh no!" Shannon gasped as she headed toward the door. "The generators must've ran out of fuel! I have to go fill them… I'll be right back, Wendy!" As she rushed out the door she heard Wendy tell her not to rush.

Shannon ran down the darkened hallways, the only source of light was from the soft glows of the red exit signs and the soft glow of the emergency lights. Her footsteps sounded extremely loud as she ran over the tiled floors, her trying to get to the room where they kept the extra gas cans and the generators. However, as she passed a patient's room she felt an odd stare. When Shannon turned around and looked into a room she saw a pair of soulless white eyes staring at her.

A scream escaped Shannon, but it was cut off when it felt like her throat had tightened. She was then pulled into the patient's room, where she just barely heard the sound of the patient gasping for air as he was dying from the lack of life support.

 _"_ _Hello, dear,"_ the demon practically purred. _"My, aren't you a unique beauty? What is a girl like you doing in such a big, scary place?"_ He then flashed a wolf-like smile. The demon waved a hand and dropped Shannon to the floor, her gasping for breath. _"Now, you know the Ice Bag correct? The redhead? I'm just wanting to ask you if… well, if she is_ 'all right' _."_ He said the phrase wrong, him trying to make a terrible joke.

"Did you stop the generators!?" Shannon demanded, her voice shaking.

The demon shrugged. _"I had to get you to leave the room."_

"WHY!?"

Magum then walked over to the dying patient and thrust his fist through the patient's chest. A gurgle escaped the old man that was lying in the bed and he slumped over. Shannon cried out and covered her mouth with her hands, trying to control the sobs that threatened to bubble out of her.

Suddenly, he tossed something towards her. There was a splat on the floor in front of her and Shannon felt something wet splatter her face.

Shannon lowered her eyes down, a scream ripping through her throat and through her fingers. She tried to scurry away, but Magum moved an object to be directly behind her to stop her in her tracks.

 _"_ _This is just a warning that I'm going to let you live. For now."_

Shannon then glanced at the object was before her.

It was the patient's heart.

 _"_ _Welcome to the wheel, Full Heart."_

* * *

 **A/N:** A new person of Magum's Wheel has been revealed! I know a lot of people had expected Blythe, but she has a difference role!

And yes, Shannon has two moms. Not only that they are also two different races. But the thing is, they are all human and love each other as they are family. Some people may not like it, but I this is my story and that's how I wish to write it.

I thank everyone for the read and the support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	16. The First Step

**Chapter 15: The First Step**

Dipper had greeted Annie warmly as she shook his hand with her six-fingered one.

"So… even though I was told it was not your real name I need to hear it for myself from the source… Please tell me your name isn't really 'Dipper'." Those were the first words Annie, a long lost cousin, had spoken to Dipper. He was almost taken back.

Dipper gave a sheepish chuckle, "No… that's not my real name. It's a nickname." He then lifted up his tuft of messy brown hair and revealed his birthmark. "Shaped like the Big Dipper."

Annie looked at him blankly. "I have _no_ idea what that is."

"It's a constellation…" Dipper tried to explain, but as soon as he said the word "constellation" Annie had started running off names of constellations that Dipper never even heard of. Apparently there was different constellations in different dimensions.

After Annie had walked away when she realized that Dipper had no idea what she was talking about Stan had taken her place. He then went inside his suit jacket and pulled out a familiar blue and white object. Instantly Dipper felt like he was lifted.

"Here ya go, kid." Stan said as he handed it over.

"You… you brought my hat!?" Dipper cired out with joy. He gingerly took the hat from his great uncle's hands and placed it on top of his head, covering his brown hair. "Oh, man… I felt practically naked without my hat!"

Stan couldn't help but laugh at that. "Hey, you've been wearing that since week one of your stay in Gravity Falls. It's almost like your Supercup Jersey."

"My what…?"

"Oh, right, you don't follow sports…"

"DIPPER!" Mabel's shouted pierced the air. She appeared in what seemed like an instant and threw her arms around her twin without hesitation. "YOU'RE OKAY! YOU'RE OKAY!"

The boy couldn't help but fiercely return the hug. He was with his twin sister again. "Of course I'm okay…" he replied softly. "I'm just glad you're okay in a place like this…"

Pacifica had been patiently waiting and Dipper felt guilty of it. As soon as he let his family know he was okay he went to Pacifica and gave her a large hug enough to cause her to squeak.

"I'm glad you're okay too…" Dipper whispered to her. "You didn't have to come to such a dangerous place."

Pacifica managed to give him a hug back. "You would do the same for anyone else here… I care for you like you care for everyone else," she explained softly.

The last one to tackle Dipper with a hug was the little girl Blythe. She immediately attached herself to his leg and refused to let go.

"How did she even get here anyway…?" Dipper asked Pacifica. When he noticed that his girlfriend was about to give a smart ass reply he quickly added, "And I mean how did she managed to sneak through a large interdimensional portal with you and the others?"

Pacifica closed her mouth. She had nothing.

"DIPPY!" Blythe laughed. "A pink lizard told me to watch you!"

"Pink… lizard?" Dipper echoed in confusion. It then dawned on him what she meant.

 _The Axolotl…? But how… it is dead…_

A dark memory came over him, a dark and maniacal laugh had overcame him. Words of death and the sight of blood before him. A family slain before him. A little girl with chestnut colored hair and blue eyes…

Dipper's knees buckled beneath him, causing him to stagger. Pacifica rushed to try to help him, but he put up a hand to signal that he was okay. Or as okay as he could. He felt as though he were about to vomit.

 _There's no way… this can't be the same little girl… that would mean… what_ would _it mean!?_

Blythe gave him a worried pout. "Dippy… it's okay!" she said cheerfully, a bright smile on her face. "I was asked to watch you! And I did! You and the triangle are acting as friends!"

Pacifica stiffened at the little girl's words. "Triangle…? Mason, she doesn't mean…?"

"I have to discuss that with Grunkle Ford…" Dipper barely rasped. He then put his hands on Blythe's shoulders. "Blythe… what do you mean that a pink lizard asked you to watch me?"

The small girl blinked, her expression almost pained. "I do have to go though… I did what the Axy-what thing said to do…" Blythe's skin then glowed a brilliant white, her body beginning to dissolve away into what looked to be flower petals. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me, Dippy, so I forgive you!"

The rest of the group saw the light and came rushing over, all with shocked expressions. Soon the girl was gone, the petals blowing away in a small breeze toward Annie. The petals dissolved even further and went inside the pendant she had around her neck. The pendant then glowed white and soon turned into a brilliant blue, the color of Blythe's eyes.

Silence filled the group, well, except for Rick taking out his flask and chugging down whatever alcohol was inside.

"Welp…" Rick grumbled drunkenly. "T-That was the most d-d-depressing thing I-I-I've ever seen."

Dipper couldn't believe it… Blythe was simply gone.

* * *

Ford pressed the large button on the device that Fiddleford had given him, sending the signal to be able to open a new portal home.

Layla stood next to him, watching him closely. She noticed that he carried a completely different demeanor than over thirty years prior. Ford seemed much darker and a lot more refined. Being in the multiverse must've changed him, just like it did her. But… just how long was he traveling through dimensions?

"Ford… are you okay?" Layla asked him gently. It was so odd seeing him as an old man.

He gave a small cough. "Yeah, I am fine. Why do you ask?" he replied, almost like it was forced optimism.

The raven-haired woman gave him a skeptical look. "Stanford… how long did it take you to get home?"

"Thirty years. I returned home the summer of 2012."

"That means nothing to me… I don't really have a sense of time."

Ford gave a deep sigh. "I know… I'm sorry. You would and Annie would've been able to return with me if only I hadn't fallen for Magum's trick…"

 _So that's what's bothering him… he blames himself. Typical Stanford Pines._

* * *

Dipper had to talk to Ford, it was urgent.

He needed to discuss with his great uncle about the "Possessed Human" talk that the young king had branded him as. After a few moments he saw Ford a few yards away talking with Layla. Dipper didn't like that he had to disrupt them, this was the first time they had been together in over thirty years, but he had no choice. Dipper ran over as fast as he could.

"Grunkle Ford!" the brunette teenager called out as he ran. "I really, _really_ need to speak with you."

With a nod Ford had excused himself from Layla and walked with Dipper a little ways from the group.

"Dipper, is this about what the king had said?" Ford asked gently.

"Yes. Because it's true." Dipper blurted out. He realized he made that sound bad.

Instantly Ford had bristled, his brown eyes hardening with anger behind his glasses. "What do mean, Dipper?" he lowly questioned, his tone hard and cold as ice. It was as if he was trying to restrain himself.

Dipper quickly explained, "Well, I'm not _possessed_ possessed, it's more of symbiotic relationship." He then explained to his great uncle his and Layla's findings at the library they had been to, how the Soul Bonding worked and how to get rid of it. With each word, it seemed Ford was getting angrier and angrier.

"So, what you're telling me is that during that fight in Graivty Falls, Bill Soul Bonded with you because of the threat of Magum?" the old scientist snarled. "How could Bill have possibly have known Magum's plans then?"

Dipper gave a shrug. "Maybe the Axolotl did it. It was the last one of its race, and from what Layla read in the texts it seemed like the Axolotls were the most powerful in the Hierarchy of Demons.

"The point is, Grunkle Ford, is that I have to trust Bill to an extent. He has been letting me have control of his powers, and I am surprisingly good at them!"

"Are you forgetting what that monster has done to you!?" Ford then snapped. "Killing innocent people? Burning whatever was in your path? _Forcing_ you to do those acts!? And now… now you're just going to _forgive him!?_ "

Dipper returned Ford's icy glare. "I wouldn't call it 'forgiveness' just yet, Grunkle Ford. But maybe… that's the first step. I'm not fully ready to that yet, but I know I have to eventually. It's the only way to destroy Magum then Bill can leave my soul and go to whatever demon afterlife they have."

"I trust _you_ , Mason," Ford declared. "I surly hope you know what you're doing."

"I sure the hell hope I do too."

* * *

 **A/N:** The "Supercup" is basically the "Superbowl" XD I figured in the world of "Gravity Falls" it would be different. Sorry if this chapter was a little short though!

Thanks for all the support and reading!

~Skye Hendersen~


	17. A Portal Home

**Chapter 16: A Portal Home**

"Well, now that you got your brat back I can go home. C'mon, Morty!"

"Rick, we can't just leave them! I-If that Magum guy succeeds here, wouldn't he go to _our_ home?"

Rick and Morty glared at each other for a few moments before Rick sighed with annoyance, him taking out his flask in the process. He took a long swig of it, the alcohol dripping form the corner of his lips, before putting it away.

"Besides, Rick," Layla spoke up as she stomped towards him. Once she was in front of him it was almost comical on how much taller Rick was compared to her. He easily had two feet on her, Ford and Stan only had about a foot on her. When Rick and Layla stood next to each other it looked as though they were a parent and child. "You cannot leave anyway, not in this main dimension. From what I can see of your portal gun that you have not literally changed the design of for over thirty years you still cannot leave main dimensions."

Rick rolled his eyes at his old mentor's daughter. "Please, Layla, like I didn't know that. I have to wait f-f-f-f-for that signal the Sci-Fi sent out to the hillbilly so we can g-g-go back to your dumb dimension, and then I can g-g-g-go home." Rick had gruffly explained, his eyes looking more and more glazed over from the alcohol hitting his bloodstream.

"And another reason you cannot leave is because you are part of stopping Magum!" Layla then stated, her pointing a finger at Rick's chest.

Rick laughed at that. "Oh? On what proof?" he jeered.

Layla then went to her boot and pulled out a yellowed piece of paper. It looked to be hand drawn of a very sloppy circle and poor drawings of symbols. She then pointed at one that looked like a terrible box.

The drunk scientist began to holler with laughter. "You'd think with you being inside and captive for most of your life you'd be a better artist!" he laughed. "That is a _terrible_ drawing! What is it even supposed to be!?"

Ford at that point had walked over and snatched the paper from Layla. With a sigh he flipped it over and took out a pen he kept in his coat pocket. He then began to re-draw the picture, this time it came out elegant and much more accurate.

"What Layla is trying to tell you is that you are part of Magum's wheel," Ford explained to Rick as he then pointed at the flask on the wheel. "Who else would this be?"

"Layla." Rick instantly replied. It made sense to him at least since Layla was an alcoholic, much like himself.

Ford shook his head. "No, she is the oak leaf, 'Bartek' is a Polish name and the name of a famous oak tree in Poland that's over six-hundred years old. Annie is the acorn, as acorns are seeds of oak trees. Dipper is the pine tree, Mabel is the shooting star, I am the six-fingered hand, Stan is… whatever this crescent thing is, and Pacifica is the llama. However, I do not know who this arrow is or the heart…"

Mabel then shouted, "George is the arrow! He's great at archery!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him with excitement. With her shout George has nearly choked on his own spit in embarrassment. "You should see him! He always hits a target!" She then tried to imitate that way he shot his bow, it was inaccurate and she tried to make up with sound effects that sounded like "whooshes".

"Now that you mention it… that makes sense…" Stan agreed, a hand to his chin. "When we were searching for a boat before he was pretty good with a crossbow…"

"Mr. Pines, that's a completely different element!" George flustered, his face red as an tomatoe. "That's practically a gun! My brother was the better archer! The only thing I'm good at is mounting…"

Stan then gave George an odd look. "What was that, kid?" he practically growled.

George paled, knowing that his wording was odd. "Horses. Mounting horses and shooting a bow and arrow. Like in that video game from 1998 where the Hero of Clocks rode his horse to save the Princess of Lowrule."

Pacifica then chimed in, "But mounting is actually one of the most difficult archer skills to master, and you can do it flawlessly."

George once again tried to insist he wasn't as good as they make him out to be, but in the end he just had to deal with it.

Dipper gave a laugh, "You took up mounting because of a video game?"

"YES!"

Rick then gave a loud groan. "FINE! Whatever, I'm the d-d-d-damn flask. Happy now, Sci-Fi?"

"The thing is I wish _none_ of us were a part of this," Ford grimly replied as he checked the device McGucket gave him. "What's taking him so long…?"

* * *

"Dude! The light's blinking!"

Soos' energetic shout caused both McGcket and Gideon to nearly fly off of their seats. McGucket immediately took interest in the blinking light and began fiddling with the console to find a location. He worked meticulously, making sure there were no mistakes.

"Alright," McGucket breathed with relief when he made sure the location was exact and precise. "Let's bring'em home." He then pressed a large red button, causing the portal to whirl and whine with energy, the symbols on the machine glowing with various colors.

* * *

Magum sensed a great source of energy pulsating through Gravity Falls.

His wolf-like smile spread across his face.

 _Bring Bill Cipher and his human puppet to me._

* * *

As Ford began to panic thinking that the device to help them get home didn't work a low rumble sounded around them, causing their surroundings to shake.

"Good job, Fiddleford!" Ford cheered, him gathering the group. "Quick headcount: Dipper, Mabel, Pacifcia, George, Annie, Layla, Rick, Morty, Stanley, and myself. Alright, we're all set."

The old scientist noticed that the teenagers were grim looking. No doubt that they were thinking of the small little girl who was just with them a few hours prior. All Ford could be thankful with that little girl was that the Axolotl let her go peacefully.

"And Blythe," Ford then whispered in addition, him motioning towards Annie's now blue pendant.

Out of the teens, it was Dipper who gave a nod of agreement, a slight smile on his face.

In an empty space next to the group a large blue portal swirled around with energy. However, a figure stepped out, the complete opposite of what the group was expecting. The figure looked almost like a cyborg, its left leg made of metal and both arms were robotic. It was completely covered by black cloth, a hood covering its head, but an oxygen mask was noticeable.

"Wait a second…" Layla gasped. "That… that guy looks familiar?"

"Were you fighting the 'Exterminator' or something during your interdimensional travels?" Stan quipped, his voice wavering.

Layla quipped back, "One: I don't know what the _hell that is!_ Two: Whoever this is, had saved my life on more than one occasion."

"Magum at one point saved your life too," Ford bitterly pointed out. "I say we don't trust the bastard and get the hell out of here!"

Layla shot him such an icy glare that everyone else flinched along with him.

Another swirl of energy appeared about ten yards away from them, so they had no choice but to start running.

"W…ait!" the figure gasped, a robotic hand reaching out. "P…lease…!"

Ford ignored the cry of desperation from the hooded figure. At that moment all he could think of was getting everyone to that portal and get home. Even if it wasn't the portal home, it was better than being there.

The group made it to the portal, Stan ushering everyone to go through. He help Pacifica and Mabel get in safely, then Annie, he offered to help Layla but she just jumped in like a pro with George following close behind. Dipper hesitated, him glancing back at the figure.

"That guy seems familiar…" Dipper murmured.

"C'mon, kid!" Stan shouted as he then grabbed Dipper and headed through the portal along with Rick and Morty.

Ford himself made it to the portal and was about to jump through. He hesitated, him taking his interdimensional gun from his side. He aimed at the figure and shouted furiously, "You stay that _hell away from us_!" Ford then slowly backed into the portal. "Or so help me you'd wish you were dealing with Magum and Bill!"

As Ford entered the portal back first, he saw the figure remove its hood. His brown eyes widened in shock when he saw a familiar face, half of its brain exposed and protected with a clear dome with blue light etched into it, and one eye was a glowing red. Despite the extremely wrinkled skin and the look of decay, the figure's face was recognizable

"Dr. Bartek…?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Yes, there is a "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" reference here. That is also why George wears green mainly, not only is it my favorite color personally, but it also connects him to Link from the game series. George does like video games, I don't think I've really ever expressed that. He did point out that the zombies in "Cipher's Reign" when he and Mabel got Robbie's tapestry reminded him of a video game, which I based it off of "Resident Evil".

Maybe I can write a one shot story about George before Weirdmageddon...? Just a little one-off or something? Let me know what you guys think of that.

"Exterminator" is supposed to be like "Terminator".

And yes, that figure _is Dr. Bartek_! The same version that was in "Layla's Lament". But... how is he still alive after all these years? Plus two versions of him were killed by Layla and Ford. We'll all find out when I eventually write it!

Thanks for reading and all of the support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	18. Not A Good Welcome Home Party

**Chapter 17: Not a Good Welcome Home Party**

As Annie fell through the portal she heard the others as well, her feeling relieved that they were all together.

What didn't make her relieved was the fact that she face-planted on the floor and the weight of the others landing on her spine. Each person that landed on her caused the air to be knocked out from her, causing her to feel lightheaded and dizzy. Once she was sure that everyone was accounted for she had slowly felt the bodies get off of her.

"Dudes!" the voice of Soos echoed through the old lab. "You guys are back!"

"Finally!" Gideon piped in.

Annie managed to pull herself from the ground, her hand to her back. "You all need to lose weight or something, you nearly broke my back!" Annie complained harshly, her brown eyes hard.

Stan then joked, "Ah, I knew I landed on something soft!"

Ford then pushed in, "We can argue about that later, right now we need to make sure that Bart- I mean, that figure is not following us." He then ran over to the console that McGucket was operating and helped him shut down the portal.

Soon the blue light that once filled the room dimmed away, leaving the room silent and nearly dark. To Annie it almost felt surreal to be there again, but then she remembered her mother.

"Mom!" Annie shouted, her voice thick with worry.

Layla stood by the entrance of the portal, her blue eyes wide and her body trembling. It was as if she was recalling the exact moment of what happened to her nearly fifty years prior. At the point Annie wanted to comfort her mother, but knew that it would be no use. The older woman collapsed onto her knees and began hyperventilating, which caused Ford to run from the console to her, Annie being there right next to them.

"This… this is my father's lab…?" Layla managed to rasp. Tears were streaming from her eyes, her right hand gripping her left tightly. "That means… the first level of the basement…" She looked up, her almost looking like a frightened child. "All those bodies… that machine my father used to experiment with…" Weeping escaped her, causing her body to shake uncontrollably. Ford then wrapped his arms around her to try to comfort her as much as possible. She buried his face into him and continued to weep.

"I'm sorry to intrude on this," Gideon began to say in his Southern accent as he approached the three. "But, we do need to go the hospital as quickly as possible."

Dipper had walked to the center of the large lab as Gideon talked, and he had noticed something that to him was odd. In a puddle of some dark liquid was what appeared to be pale limb. Upon further examination Dipper had determined that the limb was an arm that was brutally cut and that the liquid was blood. Nausea swept over him, he didn't like the sight of blood.

"What… what happened…?" Dipper gagged, him turning his back to the blood and arm. He had his hands covering his mouth, his face had taken on a slight shade of green.

Soos, Gideon, and McMucket exchanged glances.

"Well," McGucket nervously started, him scratching his beard. "Soon after y'all had left, um…"

"That scary Magum dude came here!" Soos finished for him. "He brought, like, these monsters that eat people!"

"Zombies?" Dipper guessed, him clearly remembering the last time zombies were involved.

"No… um, what did he call them?" Soos questioned.

"Wendigoes," Gideon explained, his voice going dark. "He brought these wendigoes. Wendy tried to fight them off and Magum as well, but he… but he…"

Dipper's eyes darted back to the arm.

Everyone else glanced at the arm as well, including Layla with her tear-streaked face.

"Is… is she…?" Mabel's voice trembled, her tone depressed as if she expected the worse.

Gideon shook his head, clearly knowing what she was thinking. "No, she's is not dead. She's at the hospital, Shannon's mom is taking care of her." He clarified.

George, Mabel, and Pacifica sighed with relief.

Annie couldn't help but go rigid. Magum was doing what he did best: Make everyone miserable. He had killed her caretakers, he had tortured her mother, he had verbally abused her and sent others to give her harm, and now he was attacking innocent people in a completely different dimension.

"We only have one more person on the wheel to find," Dipper pointed out as he headed to the elevator. "So, let's had to the hospital, regroup, and then take down Magum!"

"Hey, Dipper buddy…!" George called out to Dipper as he ran towards him. "What… what if the wheel thing doesn't work?"

"What the hell are you getting at, George?" Dipper spat angrily. "Of course this will work!"

George pointed out simply, "Bill's didn't."

Dipper immediately felt the blood drain from him. "Wait… you're right… before Bill had grown so powerful, and binding his soul to mine cause the wheel to only stun him…"

"Dipper, we'll figure it out!" Ford shouted. "There has to be a way, a spell like we had with Bill before…"

"You didn't write anything about this in the journals?" Gideon asked, his voice almost hopeful.

Ford shook his head. "I didn't deal with Magum in Gravity Falls, only when I was in the portal."

Dipper then ran back to the group, him going straight to Layla. "I know you just got back home after nearly fifty years," he softly said to her. "And I know you're overwhelmed by your father's lab and past actions, but you knew Magum better than anyone in this room, almost as much as Bill and the Axolotl… what do you truly know of his weakness?"

Layla flinched. It was obvious that she didn't like being grouped as someone who knows Magum very well. "If you really must know," Layla bitterly spat. "I don't really know."

"What the hell do you mean!?"

"Mason, _enough_." Ford sternly said with a surprisingly calm voice. "We'll figure it out."

Silence engulfed the room until Pacifica broke it, "We should get to the hospital, just like Gideon said. We should check on Wendy."

The group agreed and started heading out of Bartek's lab.

* * *

Once outside only so many people could fit into the cart to head to the hospital.

"Soos, how about ya help me with my car and see if we can get that running?" Stan suggested. He then asked Rick, "Ya think you can rig something for it if we can't get it running?"

Rick's response was drinking out of his flask, but afterwards he gave a nod. "I-I-I can help with that. Morty, you stay with me too to help." He then shouted at McGucket and Gideon, "H-Hey! You two help -" Rick then belched in midsentence. "- as well."

With nods the mini group followed Stan to where he had previously wrecked his car. "We'll met ya guys there!" Stan called out.

"Alright!" Ford replied. "Please be careful, Stanley!"

"Only if you do, Stanford!"

Normally the cart can fit four average sized people, but the group consisted of seven. Layla and Annie were considered the smallest, so they sat up front with Ford, who was to drive the cart. Dipper and George sat in the back of the cart, Pacifica sitting on Dipper's lap while Mabel was on George's. The back was pretty cramped, and the extra weight did slow down the cart, but Ford managed to have it move at a decent speed.

Layla and Annie both had their blasters out ready to go in case any monsters or demons started to attack. Mabel and Pacifica had their own weapons as well for the same reason. Ford kept a steady pace, and if he did notice any monsters he did all that he could to avoid them to avoid unnecessary attention.

The sky was a mixture of black and red, almost like a dark sunset. It reminded Dipper of the almost two years of traveling in the old RV during Weirdmageddon. Demonic birds streaked the skies, chasing down anything normal looking for a meal. It sent shivers down Dipper's spine, the dark and painful memories from that time.

The hospital then came into view. The hospital, like many buildings in Gravity Falls, was not the biggest or the most extravagant. Before more money was invested into the hospital, thanks to the Northwest funds that Pacifica had access to, the hospital seemed to only have the most minimal amount of beds and supplies and it almost felt like they were trapped in a time where modern medicine didn't exist. However, the money that was invested expanded the hospital in the back and added many modern and high tech equipment to give the best patient care.

Dipper was not a fan of hospitals.

His most recent encounter with a hospital was during the Weirdmaggedon travels. Some demonic birds that Bill had sent attacked the RV they were traveling in, and of course Dipper got hurt during the attack. He got hurt protecting Mabel, his shoulders being torn up by the monsters' talons, but he would do it again in a heartbeat to save his sister.

A time before that was a quick trip to the Gravity Falls hospital was after Mabel's failed Sock Opera and Bill's first possession of Dipper. It was just a quick visit to get a couple of stitches by his hair line and some antiseptic for his left arm that was riddled with fork holes.

The idea of going inside a hospital made Dipper cringe inwardly, but a slight movement caught the attention of Pacifica.

"What's wrong?" she whispered lightly, just low enough for him to hear.

"I hate hospitals." Dipper put simply.

Pacifica gave him a reassuring squeeze on his knee. "It'll be okay," she promised.

"I hope so."

Ford then stopped the cart in front of the hospital doors. Who cared about parking in an apocalypse? The group removed themselves from the vehicle and entered the building, an almost humid stickiness attaching to their exposed skin.

"Ew, it's like a low class sauna in here," Pacifica grumbled, her using a hand to pull her shirt from her chest.

"Classic Paz," Mabel joked with an optimistic smile. "Always slipping into her old ways!"

Footsteps ran towards them, them almost echoing. Everyone went on edge, them pulling whatever weapons they had on their persons.

"I _hate_ hospitals!" George managed to say, his voice almost quivering. They remind me of creepy doctors from that game 'Quiet Mound'!" He shivered. "Ugh! Those games are so creepy!"

"How many games do you play!?" Dipper snapped in a whisper.

"Quite a lot…" the dark blonde admitted.

"SHH!" Ford, Layla, and Annie hissed.

The figure that had been running towards them then stopped and put their hands over their head.

"Please don't shoot!" the voice was a young girl.

"Wait a minute…" Mabel mumbled. "That's Shannon!"

Shannon stepped out of a shadow. "Yeah, sorry about the lights… the generators are starting to go…"

Ford put his weapon away and glanced toward the dark hallways. "Then we need to stop Magum as soon as possible," he stated.

"We wanted to visit Wendy though," Dipper explained. "We heard what happened, and we just want to make sure she was okay real quick."

Shannon almost grimaced. "She's… I guess she's okay…?" She then waved a hand to have them follow her. "I'll just show you."

The caramel-skinned girl led the group down the dark hallways, every time a small sound echoed around them George almost went on a frenzy.

"I'm _never_ playing those games again…" he muttered. "I'll stick to 'Occupied Wickedness' instead…"

"Again with the video games?" Dipper almost held back a bark of a laugh.

George almost went red. "I like video games… but I like playing 'Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons' with you and Ford." Layla's groan upon hearing that name bounced off of the walls. "And playing 'Fantasy the Assembly' with you is fun too."

Mabel then loudly said to Pacifica in a mock whisper, "Oh my God, we are dating _nerds_."

"Yep," agreed Pacifica with a grin.

Shannon then stopped in front of a door. "I believe my Mom is taking care of her right now, she's a doctor. And my Mother may be there as well to keep Wendy company."

Annie and Layla exchanged a look of confusion. "What…?" they both asked.

"We'll explain later," Mabel assured them. "Love is for everyone!"

Shannon knocked on the door and a voice told them that they could enter. She opened the door and the group went inside to see that Wendy was lying in a hospital bed propped up by a pillow with Dr. Clover-Brown and a blonde woman standing next to a monitor. It looked as though she had her arms under the blankets, nut they all knew that one truly wasn't.

"Wendy!" the teenagers cheered as they rushed to her bedside.

Instantly the red head lit up. "Hey guys! What's up?" she gave a big smile, but it looked almost ghostly. "Hey, Dipper! Glad to see you made it back from the other dimension safe and sound!"

"Thanks to Layla helping me out," Dipper laughed as he gestured towards her.

"You were almost as hopeless as Ford," the older woman grumbled, her giving a sideways glance at Ford, him clearly looking offended.

Mabel then went closer to Wendy's bedside on the left side, her seeing the thickly wrapped bandages. "I'm sorry about what happened to you…" she sorrowfully sniffled.

Wendy gave half a shrug. "Whatever. I lost my arm, but at least I didn't die. I get to see my favorite set of teenage twins again! And my favorite blondes!"

Ford then approached her, "Wendy," he began. "I am _terribly_ sorry for what has happened to you. Once everything is over I and Fiddleford will build you a robotic prosthetic, All of this is my fault… I will try to make things right."

Wendy laughed, "Yo, Dr. Pines, just chill man." She then held up her stump proudly. "I'll wear this like a battle scar. It shows I wasn't scared of that bastard. But… I'll still take the cool robot arm though."

"We'll make detachable," Ford grinned. "Think of the pranks!"

"Now you're talking my language."

The lights began to flicker, the sound of the humming from the generators growing dimmer by the moment. There wasn't much time left, they had to find and defeat Magum soon. But the problem was, how were they supposed to defeat him if they were missing a key person from the wheel?

That was when Dipper noticed Shannon. He saw that the young girl who was close to Gideon check on Wendy several times, her making sure that everything was running smoothly. He even saw her run out of the room a few times to check other patients and getting bottled water for everyone.

It seemed like she had a big heart for everyone.

"You're the whole heart…" Dipper barely whispered as she rushed past him. The girl stopped dead in her tracks, her almost looking like a deer in headlights.

"How… how did you know that…?" Shannon questioned, her voice cracking.

That response surprised Dipper. "Um… the real question is how did you know that?"

"My assumption is that she met him at some point," Layla interrupted. "Why he's keeping her and us alive, I have no clue."

"It's just like with Bill…" Mabel pointed out. "Maybe the wheel won't work like Bill's didn't."

"Way to be positive guys," Annie muttered sarcastically.

Dipper shouted, "We'll figure that out later! Right now we found the last one of the wheel, maybe it's enough to stun Magum into weakness while we think of another plan!"

Ford gave a nod of approval. "That may actually work…"

"Let's get going then!" Annie cried out. "I've been wanting to give that son of a bitch payback since I was _five_!"

"Language," both Ford and Layla chastised.

Dipper rolled his eyes as he gestured toward Shannon. "C'mon," he said to her. "You're part of this now, you should come with us."

Shannon glanced toward her mothers, both giving her a worried stare. After a moment they both nodded in approval. With tears in her eyes, Shannon ran to her mothers and hugged them tightly.

"Watch Mr. Peters… he keeps trying to take off his pants in front of nurses…" Shannon warned as she ran out the door with the rest of the group.

"Kick Magum's ass!" Wendy shouted after them.

* * *

Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the darkened hallways, lights flicked on occasionally but were quickly extinguished.

"I hate this… I _really_ hate this," George mumbled, his darting his head everywhere.

"Maybe survival horror games made you paranoid," Dipper joked.

"I played 'The Lore of Linda' to balance it out." George quickly replied, his gaze set down a hallway that lead to radiology. "Did… did you guys see that."

"Kid, George is it?" Layla asked. When he nodded she continued, "Look, you are more paranoid then Ford when we trying to steal stuff for survival."

Ford gave her a hard look. "I had the right to. You were piss drunk and running into everything. We were going to get caught. And, just so we are all clear, we _did_ get caught."

Layla gave a slight shrug of acknowledgment. "Yeah… we did. We got out though, and still kept the stuff."

In the midst of their arguing and reminiscing a shuffling echoed, causing them both to stop. The entire group went on edge, raising weapons towards the space.

"If it's a creepy possessed doctor, I'm shooting it in the head." George stated seriously, his bow and arrow drawn professionally.

"Maybe you weren't paranoid after all…" Dipper confessed.

Indeed that appeared before them from the shadows was a possessed doctor. The doctor wore a filthy lab coat, stained in a rust color that suspiciously looked like old blood. Its face was hollow looking and drained from blood, they eyes almost a pasty white.

Weapons were aimed at the doctor, and George drew his arrow and went to shoot. He was not kidding when he said if it was a possessed doctor he was going to shoot. As George went to release the arrow Shannon shouted and pushed his arms, causing the arrow to only stick to the shoulder of the doctor.

"DON'T SHOOT HIM!" Shannon screamed, her scream causing a few misfires from Dipper and Mabel's guns, although Dipper's was a plasma beam from his time with Layla in the other dimension. "YOU CAN'T SHOOT HIM!"

"Why the hell not!?" Layla shouted back, clearly furious. As she talked Annie ran to the doctor and tackled him to the ground, an I.D. badge falling out of a pocket. "Annie!"

"Mom… Shannon's right, we can't kill him." Annie informed quickly, the badge now in her hands. "He's a doctor here."

More shuffling echoed.

"So… these possessed doctors… are _real_ people!?" George gasped. "I… I almost _killed_ him…! What if the doctor was Shannon's mom or something!?"

Annie removed managed to break off the shaft of the arrow, only the head was embedded in the doctor's shoulder. "That way if he runs into something it won't push all the way through and cause major bleeding," she explained.

Pacifica looked from George to the doctor. She noted how genuinely freaked out and scared George was in the situation. "Does anyone else find it odd that one of George's fears was manifested…?" the blonde asked.

"Magum is a master of illusion," Layla pointed out. "Since he's grown in power he must have the ability to use his telepathic powers in a much wider range."

"HE PROBED THROUGH MY HEAD?!" George screeched in horror. "This is worse than that game 'S.C.A.R.E.D.'… that game had a lot of creepy paranormal crap like that…"

Ford gave him a serious look. "Remind me to play those games with you and Dipper so we can see how much real paranormal and weird things help inspired those games, they might be real."

"GRUNKLE FORD!"

"DR. PINES!"

"FORD!"

"DAD!"

Everyone screamed at Ford at the same time. "Okay… we'll talk about that later…" he mumbled. He gave a small cough to clear his throat, him observing the shuffling hospital staff. "New plan: We leave the hospital and meet up with the others to fight Magum. However, we will not harm any of the staff as they are possessed."

Dipper then pointed out, "But what if they are _not_ real and they are just hallucinations made by Magum to make us think differently?"

"Not taking any chances."

They managed to push a doctor away from them as it had sneaked up close, Pacifica managing to knock away a weapon that looked to be a pipe. Many of the staff carried these types of weapons, swinging blindly with full force.

"SEEMS PRETTY REAL TO ME!" panicked George, him using arrows as sound distractions for the doctors to shuffle away momentarily. One doctor that he didn't notice swung a pipe and cracked against his leg. George screamed and collapsed to the ground, the other doctors shuffling to surround him.

"George!" Mabel cried out. She rushed to her boyfriend, who was yelping from the pain in his leg and the hands that grabbed him to tug his limbs in multiple directions. "GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU CREEPS!" She then used the butt of her gun and slammed into the staffs' backs, causing them to buckle and release George.

Immediately Ford and Dipper rushed to the dark blonde's side and helped him up. George couldn't put weight on his leg, so Ford offered to carry the teenager on his back. Before they could prepare for transportation Mabel used a pipe that was dropped by a doctors and ripped up a lab coat and made a stent for George's leg to keep it straight and stable. As she was doing her quick first aid both Layla and Annie did what George had done with their weapons, using the plasma beams as a distraction for the staff to wander away.

"Worst… welcome home… party… _ever_!" George complained with gritted teeth. He hissed in pain as his leg was moved when Dipper helped getting him on Ford's back.

Once George was as stable as he could be they continued through the hospital. They made it to the lobby and saw three normal looking people standing in front of the doors facing them.

One was an older man, looking to be in the early to mid-fifties, his once brown hair salt and peppered gray. He wore a simple long sleeved black dress shirt and dress pants, as though he was going to small get-together. The woman next to him had dark blonde hair that was pulled into a light ponytail, some stray strands in her face that did not completely block out her grey colored eyes. She wore a simple pale green summer dress, almost like cocktail dress for warmer weather. The final person was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, him with brown hair and the same and familiar grey eyes, him wearing a light blue long sleeved shirt and black dress pants.

"No… no, no, no…!" George tearfully cried out. "That… that bastard can't be serious!"

"George… are those…?" Mabel lightly tried to ask, her suspecting who they were.

"My mom, dad, and brother… the last I saw them before they died during Weirdmageddon." George replied, his voice monotone. "We were in our backyard for a barbeque, celebrating that Jeremy won a major target competition. It was winning another years tuition for college…"

 _"But dear, you can see that we are fine,"_ the doppelganger of his mother said, her voice almost a whisper of a ghost.

"You're not _real_!" George roared in anger. He was normally a laid back and peaceful person, but seeing his family before him in a mocking way enraged him. "You're dead! Dad's dead! Jeremy's dead…!"

 _"Then little brother, you should've died with us…"_ Jeremy remarked. _"I mean… you did tell us to forget about our friends and neighbors to leave them to die when those demons first appeared."_

"I wanted us to be safe as a family!" George cried, his eyes red and puffy, tears swelling in his eyes. "You guys always had put others before yourselves… that was your best quality… but it got you killed!"

The ghost family looked to each other and Mr. Grand held out a hand. _"Dr. Stanford Pines you can release our son to us, I think he knows what he needs to do."_

"This is an obvious trap set up by Magum." Annie asserted.

George then held up his bow and arrow that he had held on so tightly before. He then calmly asked Ford, "May you please put me down? There _is_ something I need to do." Ford complied and the small group watched as George painfully limped to his "family".

He stood about ten feet away from the family, his body trembling with pain and fear. "There is something I need to get off my chest… I _hated_ that you guys abandoned me. You were so busy trying to help and save everyone else that you forgot _me_. But then again… as the second son, that's to be expected.

"Jeremey was the oldest, the most intelligent, and the most talented. He taught me how to do archery when mom and dad refused to teach me. I loved playing video games with Jeremy when we brought the consoles to the hotels for competitions. I still remembered the look he gave me when I was screaming that we needed to leave: he looked as though he wanted nothing more than to take me somewhere safe.

"Mom and Dad were proud that I decided to keep doing archery, despite not being as good as Jeremy. I took up mounting and learned to ride a horse. They were really proud when I won my first competition, and Jeremy even said that _I_ was the best…

"I loved you guys… I still _love_ you guys… I wasn't abandoned as I see that now, you were just being the nice and great people you always were. But now, the worst of my fears are over. I know you are not mad that I lived and you died. I know you are proud of me and how much I have grown. And now…"

George then lifted up his bow and arrow into position, the arrow aimed straight at his family. "And now…" he repeated. "I am the Arrow that will help take down Magum."

He released the arrow and it soared through the air. It seemed the arrow shattered a window, the family breaking away as though they were glass. The pieces fell to the floor, but soon disappeared away into dust.

"I love you guys, and I'm sorry I held onto that for so long."

No one was sure who George was talking to, but when he turned around his face was red. Snot dripped from his nose and tears stained his cheeks, he may had controlled his voice not to shake but his body released the stress a different way.

Mabel ran to George with blinding speed and hugged him tightly to her. His stance broke and he collapsed, Mabel just barely keeping him up, and his body broke down and he started sobbing heavily.

* * *

Magum thought that using the Arrow's fear would break him, to have him join his side, a member of the wheel betraying them.

 _No matter… they think their wheel can stop me. Let them… I cannot wait to see the looks on their faces when the great Axolotl's plan_ fails.

* * *

 **A/N:** Wow! A super long chapter! Hopefully this was a good one!

Now... some video game parody/references!

Quiet Mound = Silent Hill

Occupied Wickedness = Resident Evil

Fantasy the Assembly = Magic the Gathering

The Lore of Linda = The Legend of Zelda

S.C.A.R.E. = F.E.A.R.

It honestly took a little bit to come up with these parody names...

Thanks for reading and all of your support!

~Skye Hendersen~


	19. The El Diablo

**Chapter 18: The El Diablo**

Stan led the second half of the group to where he had crashed his car during an attack on the way to Bartek's home in the woods.

The front end of Stan's old El Diablo was smashed like a tin can into the tree, the windshield shattered and the glass littered the front seats. A light smoke emitted from the front end, no doubt the engine and radiators crumpled up.

Stan still had cuts from that accident, some deep gashes in his hairline and cheek. A quick first aid by Mabel helped him get patched up, but he most likely still needed stitches as once in a while fresh blood oozes through the sticky scabs.

The old conman looked at his car with a deep sadness. He had drove that car since he learned how to drive. He _lived_ in his car for God knows how long. This car was once what he had considered the only stable thing in his life, until the twins came for the summer of course, and he treated that car with respect and surprisingly many money filled repairs. If he was willingly to spend money on anything back in the day it was for his car as it was his livelihood.

Now, the old car was trashed.

Rick took a large gulp from his flask, the swallowing audible as he stood directly next to Stan. "Welp," the drunken man hiccupped. "Th-th-th-this thing is toast. What the h-h-h-hell was the point of dragging us out here?"

"To fix it," Stan put lightly, an edge to his tone. He wasn't going to give up on this old car that easily. "We have to fix it."

"First car syndrome," Rick concluded. "That's what you got. Th-th-th-this thing's terrible. What year is it?"

"1965…" Stan admitted. "I remember my pop got it dirt cheap off of someone who needed quick cash when they stumbled into the old pawn shop. It was supposed to be my mom's car to do errands, but she ended up giving it me and Ford. I obviously drove it more, picked up some chicks and so on."

"I-I-I asked the year, not the life story behind it," Rick grumbled, him putting his flask away in his lab coat and walked over to the car. He gave the old rust bucket a swift kick, the metal groaning in response as the axels bent and broke, causing the wheels to roll away from the car. "And, I declare it that it's dead."

"YOU JUST MADE IT WORSE!" Stan screamed angrily. "WHAT THE F-!"

Soos' cheerful voice cut the old conman off, "Don't worry Mr. Pines, I'm sure we'll fix it!" He then took out a screwdriver that he had for some reason in his pocket and headed towards the old vehicle. "Nothing but a little elbow grease can't handle!"

Rick rolled his eyes. "More like a country of grease, elbows don't got shit to help."

"Yo, alcoholic, shut your yap and help!" Stan shouted at Rick.

"The only help I can give you-" Rick then belched in the middle of his sentence. "- is a tow truck. But, we might be here for a while with all… the demons and whatnot." He took his flask out once again and took a long swig.

"Ah, jeez, Rick, just help the guy with his car…" Morty finally exasperated, him heading to the car with McGucket in tow.

McGucket had an idea of breaking down Dr. Bartek's portal to help with patching up the car. With Gideon's use of the amulet and its telekinetic abilities it was much easier to hull the large pieces of metal. Rick, after drinking form his flask for five minutes straight without taking a breath, finally took initiative and started fixing up the old convertible car.

"Damn, when's the last time you were able to put down the top?" Rick asked, his tone indicating that he really didn't care. He ended up getting some odd gadget from his lab coat and used it to jimmy the top to be released, rust and dirt breaking off from between the cracks.

"Uh… 74," Stan replied. He had taken a moment to think of it. If he remembered correctly one of his old "friends" used some kind industrial glue to glue the top shut when he found out that Stan was going to run away with money that they had stolen from a mafia. "Never bothered to get it fixed."

Rick scoffed, "I can tell."

Soon with parts from the portal and the engineering genius of McGucket, the old convertible was able to start. The front end of the car was bumpy and full of craters, patched of silver from the old portal looking like futuristic bandages. The wheels were put back on and patched, although it was a temporary fixed, and the engine was rigged with the nuclear power source for the portal. The one thing the car didn't have was a windshield and its side windows were cracked, but Stan figured he would get those things fixed after the crisis was over.

 _If the crisis_ ever _ends…_ Stan thought bitterly. _No matter what we do, it seems this shit always comes back to bite us in the ass…_

The old El Diablo roared to life when Stan turned the keys in the ignition. He grinned happily to himself, thankful that his old car wasn't dead just yet. The top was down for the first time in years, and the car felt less stuffy and stale. After it was determined that the car wasn't going to sputter out, the rest of the group piled in.

Soos sat in the passenger seat, his eyes looking up towards the sky. Rick, Morty, McGucket, and Gideon squashed themselves in the back. Gideon sat behind the driver's seat and Rick was behind the passenger's seat leaving Morty and McGucket to be smooshed in the center.

"Let's go meet up with the others!" Stan declared as he switched gears. He peeled away from the site that had nearly destroyed his car and got himself on the road to head into downtown Gravity Falls.

Once they had entered the town it took all of Stan's driving skills to dodge every canyon that was splitting the streets. Demons and monsters rampaged into buildings and ripping apart parked cars, looking for something.

"W-What do you think th-th-th-they're looking for…?" Morty asked his grandfather nervously.

"My guess is the demon kid," Rick replied.

"Dipper," Stan curtly corrected. "His name is Dipper and he is not a demon."

"But he lets one live in his head," Rick retorted with equal curtness.

Stan then slammed on the breaks, causing Soos' head to jerk forward and Gideon's face smashing against the back of the driver's seat. Stan spun around and glared at Rick with fury in his eyes.

"Look, asshole, he didn't want to make a deal with Bill! And neither did Ford!" Stan shouted at Rick. "The past is in the past, what's done is done, but we can make it up for the future! Now, stop being a shit for brains and actually be a team player."

"I helped fixed your damn car!" Rick screamed back.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"

Before Rick could snap back, the ground beneath them rumbled. The Earth itself was shaking, the cracks in the road began to widen and spread. Stan went to slam his foot on the gas pedal, but beneath them a crack and formed and a tire fell in, leaving the car stuck.

"NO!" Stan shouted as the pedal was hitting the floor. The tires squealed and the smell of burning rubber filled his nostrils. "Damn it!" After spending all that time trying to save the car… "EVERYONE GET OUT!" Stan shouted as he unbuckled himself and opened the car and safely got out.

Everyone else followed suit, the car quickly sinking into the crater. Once everyone was safely out the car plummeted into the crater, crashing and crunching on the way down. Stan looked down in dismay in the never ending hole.

"My car is gone…" Stan sadly whispered.

"We have bigger fish to fry!" Rick then shouted, him taking out a blaster from his lab coat.

In the center of town was a large, stone throne. Sitting in the throne was Magum in a new guise. He unmistakably looked human, no doubt possessing some poor soul into a false pretense of being let to live. Magum now had pale, sickly skin that almost looked like he was dying, with pure black hair. His eyes of course were there pure white, soulless eyes that showed nothing in emotions. His clothing was slick and fancy, a pure black suit with a black tie and undershirt. He honestly looked like he was a living personification of Death.

"I don't think he's noticed us…" Gideon noted.

It was true, Magum was paying them no mind. Instead he was looking at a red portal with scorn. With a wave of his hand the portal disappeared and he barked an order to some subordinate that looked like it was a cross between a gargoyle and a wolf. The subordinate scurried away as Magum looked with disdain.

"Dudes, I think we should get out of here before we get noticed…" Soos admitted.

Morty and Gideon nodded in agreement and began to shuffle away with Soos. Stan took one last, sorrowful look down the hole where is car had disappeared down to before Rick gave him a rough pat on his shoulder to usher him away.

"We need to be careful, any demon that sees us will immediately attack," Rick whispered to Stan as the scurried away. "Or worse, tell Magum and he comes to kick our asses."

"How bad is Magum?" Stan then asked. It occurred to him he really didn't know Magum's full capabilities. Before when he and Ford had talked about the multiverse it was a very, very touchy subject.

 _Have you ever been in love?_

That was what Ford asked him one time after a therapy session. When Stan replied that he thought he had been once that was when Ford opened up more about talking about his time in the multiverse where he did mention Layla. But, Stan never crossed the line about pressing on the subject of Magum, not when Ford had the look of deep pain in his eyes.

"I've dealt with him, or the version of myself that Ford knows has anyway." Rick admitted. "Look, I only got the memories of that version. I myself only dealt with Dr. Bartek for a week before I left and never went back, I barely even knew his daughter. But when another version of me mentioned this dimension with Bartek's old lab is the reason why I came, found my dead body, and downloaded the memories.

"Let's just say Magum is… _worse_ than Bill."

Worse _than Bill?_ Stan thought to himself. _After what that bastard did to Ford…? To Dipper?! I can't imagine…_

"RICK!" the scream of Morty pierced through the air. With no hesitation Rick ran toward the scream, his blast in hand ready to fire. The drunk scientist may not show it, but it did seem like he had a great love for his grandson.

Stan followed suit, his own gun in hand. He didn't like having only a gun to deal with demons and monsters, but it did work for when he and the kids were on the run cross country for over a year after the whole Weirdmageddon thing had started. Stan was ready.

Or so he hoped.

Once at the source of Morty's scream there were large bear looking monsters with fure red as crimson and eyes black as coal that held onto each person. One had a hand clamped so tightly across Morty's mouth it had covered his nose and he was tinging blue from the lack of oxygen.

"LET GO OF MY GRANDSON YOU BASTARD!" Rick screamed furiously, his finger pulling the trigger violently.

The blasts hit the monster that held the young teenager, dropping him instantly. Stan rushed forward towards him, him shooting his gun at the other monsters as distractions for Rick to finish them off with his own weapon.

"C'mon, kid!" Stan ordered Morty, helping him up and getting him away from the crossfire.

Suddenly, a hard stinging pain erupted form Stan's leg. It was almost as if he had stepped into lava without realizing it. No thoughts crossed his mind as he collapsed, his left shoulder colliding with the concrete and his side landing on his gun, the trigger pulled and a random fire shot out, thankfully missing him. Stan managed to push himself up but was forced back down when something stepped on his back.

Stan screamed in pain, feeling his old back getting crushed. He was being pulled, most likely being pulled toward the monster that had grabbed him. As he was dragged he noticed that he was leaving a trail of bright, scarlet blood. Stan felt himself run cold, that was an awful lot of blood…

Stan was suddenly flipped over onto his extremely hurting back, him taking in a sharp breath of pain. He looked to see that the monster crouched over him with bared fangs, stained red and yellow and sharper than knives.

"Mr. Pines!" both Gideon and Soos shouted. The monster was pulled off of Stan due to Gideon's amulet and Soos rushed to the old man to help him up.

Before Stan could even ask where McGucket, and Rick and Morty was, a maroon blur rushed in front of them and crushed into the floating monster that Gideon held with his telekinetic abilities. Stan blinked in surprise to see that it was his car… it was the old El Diablo!

In the driver seat sat McGucket piloting it, the car was clearly levitating off of the ground. Both Rick and Morty had a blaster in hand and kept fire onto the monsters until they collapsed and no longer moved.

"Wait… I thought my car…" Stan began sputtering, his eyes wide with shock that his car was still there. He had seen it fall down the crater!

Rick gave him a triumphant smirk. "Look, it was this crazy guy's idea to modify it like this," he admitted as he gestured to McGucket.

"All I did was –" McGucket was about to say until Rick interrupted him.

"Yeah explain latter, McBucket."

" _McGucket_ ," the old hillbilly genius sternly corrected. "My name is Fiddleford Hadron McGucket."

Rick scoffed, "Whatever." He then helped Soos get Stan into the vehicle.

Finally, Stan had a chance to see his wound. There was a deep gash in his right leg, no doubt from the monster swiping at him. With the help of Gideon and Soos the leg was bandaged up rightly to help stop the bleeding.

"Now, we should head to the hospital to meet the others," Stan ordered, him short of breath from the exhilarating experience. He then looked around his small car. "But how are we going to fit everyone…?"

"I HAVE THE SOLUTION!" screamed McGucket, causing everyone, even Rick, to jump in surprise. The old hillbilly genius then pressed the power button to the radio, but instead of music being turned on, a whirling of mechanical devices sounded.

The floor and sides of the El Diablo then seemed to unhinge itself and began expanding. It was a pure sheet of metal as the car seemed to grow, adding another fifteen feet to the vehicle, the silver of the metal looking odd as it was just suddenly in the middle of the maroon colored car.

"Damn, McGucket," Stan whistled, clearly impressed. "How'd you do that?"

"Well, I-"

"JUST DRIVE!" Rick roared, causing the old hillbilly to panic and slam his bandaged foot onto the gas pedal.

The El Diablo zoomed forward, heading towards the Gravity Falls Hospital.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey everyone! Thanks for reading as always!

I appreciate all of the support, reading your comments brings a smile to my facing seeing that people really enjoy my writing!

Stay tuned for the next chapter! We are starting to head to the end game!

~Skye Hendersen~


	20. Bill's Spell

**Chapter 19: Bill's Spell**

Luckily for them they were still in the hospital, and there was a doctor available to help George get into a cast for his leg.

Crutches were found for George, but now he was out of commission for combat due to his injury. George still kept his bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back, just in case he was in a stable position to fight again.

Once George was all settled a familiar rumble of an engine was heard as the group was walking through the halls to get back to the entrance of the hospital. They all found newfound energy to make their way through the doors to see the familiar maroon color of the old El Diablo and Stan's fez atop his silver hair.

"Grunkle Stan!" the young twins shouted.

"Hiya, kiddos!" their grunkle greeted back with a small wave. "Hey, uh, any docs in there willing to help me with my leg?"

"You hurt your leg too, Mr. Pines?" George inquired, him finally making his way outside with his crutches.

Stan looked at his injured leg. "Holy Moses, what happened to you?"

"Magum had probed George's mind and made things like a scary video game," Mabel nonchalantly explained.

While Stan looked like he was trying to figure out what his great niece meant by that, Ford stepped forward.

"Come on, Stanley, let's get you patched up too." Ford said to his twin, him offering a hand.

"Thanks, Sixer."

Layla then approached Rick who was sitting inside the car. "Hey, what the hell are you up too?" she asked him, her voice full of suspicion.

Rick took a long swig from his flask and did a loud belch before putting it away. "The hell y-y-y-you mean, Layla?" he asked drunkenly.

"What did you do to this vehicle?" Layla lowly questioned, her voice hard.

Another belch from Rick. "One: It's a car, sorry that you don't what that is due to your shitty life. Two: I didn't d-d-d-d-do shit," he informed, using one figure to mark each point he made. "It was t-t-this guy here." Rick then pointed to Mcucket, who was still in the driver seat.

"All I did was… aw, never yer minds…" McGucket was about to explain his doing, but he then trailed off. Most likely he knew Rick was just going to brush him off again.

Dipper and Mabel made their way to old beaten car. The twins remembered vividly how many near death experiences they had just in the first three days alone being driven around town by their great uncle.

"Hm, seems less cozy looking now," Pacifica pointed out, almost sadly.

"Oh, yeah," Mabel recalled. "We did give you a ride after the mini gold bet we had."

"Yeah, after you two cheating almost got me killed!" Pacifica snapped, her hands balled into fists.

Both Dipper and Mabel laughed nervously with glances to each other.

Annie and Shannon had helped George make his way to the car and assisted him inside. George looked like he was finally relieved to be sitting down and not using crutches. Shannon, still in her Candy Striper outfit, had a small bag of supplies that included some pain medicine.

"There, rest up, kid." Annie ordered as she slammed the door.

The dark blonde firmly corrected, "George."

"Look, I don't have time to be memorizing names!" Annie shouted irritably, her hands thrown up into the air.

Rick chuckled to Layla, "That's definitely your daughter."

All Layla did was glare at him.

Rick retaliated by taking another swig of his flask.

Ford finally returned with Stan. Stan's leg was bandaged up and he was able to put weight on it, so it seemed his leg was in better shape than at first glance.

"Like what McGucket did to the car?" Stan cheered, him gesturing to the old modified rust bucket with a large grin on his face.

Ford gave it a look of approval. "Yes, it seems it's more adequate for our group to carry us." He then glanced at everyone who gave him an odd look. "What?"

"You couldn't just say, 'Damn, that's cool man' or some shit like that?" Morty deadpanned. The young brunette gave himself a face palm. "Or you just could've said, 'That's cool'."

"L-L-Listen, Morty," Rick sputtered, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. "This is Sci-Fi we are talking about, everything that you just said is out of his vocabulary."

"Shut the hell up, Rick." Ford groaned, his shoulders slumped and him seemingly out of energy when dealing with the drunken man.

Dipper couldn't help but snicker at the interactions. It almost felt, _normal_. If the fate of the world wasn't balancing off of their shoulders, Dipper would be actually having a decent time. Well, except for George's broken leg and Stan's injured one, they probably would've been fine without those complications.

" _Hey, Pine Tree!"_

Dipper internally groaned. _What Bill?_

 _"You know what may work in helping defeat Magum?"_

 _…_

 _"C'mon, Pine Tree! Don't you want to know?"_

 _If it's so important why are you telling me now of all times?_

 _"… Because I didn't think of it until just now…"_

Dipper scrunched up his face in annoyance. He would rather not be dealing with Bill at the moment.

" _Pine Tree, did Fordsy ever tell you about the caves that he found my spell to summon me in?"_

 _Briefly._

 _"There is more to those caves… even more ancient evils and spells worse than I and Magum. If my spell was in there and the wheel to defeat me, then Magum's has to be there as well. The Axolotl had a thing for this land, so I guess it just put them there."_

What Bill was saying peaked Dipper's interest; before to defeat Bill they had an incantation to say that freed the other zodiac members from their tapestries. Luckily, in Journal 2 that Gideon had it had the spell randomly scribbled in there. Now, with Magum on the rise, they needed something different.

 _How do we get to these caves, Bill?_

 _"Ask Fordsy to take you there. Tell him that you think deeper inside the caves there might be more information on Magum."_

 _You want me to do it casually so Grunkle Ford doesn't get mad that it was your idea?_

 _"… Sure."_

Dipper rolled his eyes at that.

He decided to go with that route, the last thing he wanted was to have Grunkle Ford be totally pissed off. Dipper knew that Ford, and even Stan, won't admit, the two older men can be quite scary and intimidating when they were enraged. It was better to play it off that Dipper had a suggestion over saying that Bill thought there was a spell for Magum in the caves.

"Grunkle Ford?" Dipper called to him casually. When Ford approached him Dipper could see that there was worry in his great uncle's eyes. "You know how we need a spell to defeat Magum? Like we did for Bill?"

Ford raised an eyebrow. "Yes," he replied. "I'm still trying to figure out where possibly the spell could be. I was thinking about heading to the Shack and grabbing the book I had that Layla had stolen."

"But… what if it's not in there?" Dipper asked nervously. He put his hand behind his head to scratch. That was Dipper's tell when he was awkward or nervous.

"We would have to think of another place is all," Ford replied almost too quickly.

Dipper gave a scowl. "You wouldn't know where to look, do you?"

"… Not… particularly… Look, what brought this up, Dipper?"

Dipper took a deep breath. "What if… the caves that you found Bill's summoning spell also had something on Magum?" he asked softly, almost as if he was afraid to even ask.

Ford's eyes rounded like saucers. "Son of a _bitch!_ I never thought about that! There was a wall that was made of large rocks, as if there was a cave in… It could be behind that!" the old scientist exclaimed excitedly.

 _"No shit, Sherlock."_

 _Quiet, Bill!_

Ford then grabbed Dipper's shoulders, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Dipper! We need to get to those caves! Unfortunately, they are on the complete opposite of our location, almost near the mountain ranges…"

Dipper had an idea. It was a crazy idea, and Ford may not be one-hundred percent on it, but it may just work. "I can try to open a portal for you and me to go through to get there," he suggested.

Ford narrowed his eyes at that. "No," he replied firmly. "I'm sure we can find a different way…" The old scientist then looked to Rick. "Rick, may we borrow your portal gun for a bit?"

The drunken man was nearly passed out in the passenger seat, both Annie and Layla looked at him with disgust. Morty had to prod his grandfather and gesture to Ford for him. Rick gave a large belch and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his lab coat. "Huh…? U-U-h, s-s-s-sure, whatever…" Rick then randomly tossed his gun and thankfully Dipper caught it before it crashed into the ground. "J-J-Just d-d-d-don't break it, asshats."

 _You're the one who almost did!_ Dipper thought angrily to himself.

 _"Yeah, tell'em Pine Tree!"_

 _Holy Moses, just be_ QUIET _, Bill!_

Dipper then handed the portal gun to his great uncle. Ford proceeded to type in coordinates and shot at a nearby wall. A large green portal formed, a low sound of swirling energy filling Dipper's ears. He's never seen this kind of portal before, it almost seemed nuclear and radioactive. It gave him an uneasy feeling.

Before Dipper could enter the portal Pacifica had ran up to him and gave him a tight hug. "Be careful, please," she whispered in his ear.

"I will," he whispered back. "We'll be back before you know it."

Ford informed the others of what he and Dipper would be doing. With words of encouragement the two Pines gave a soft wave and disappeared.

* * *

The portal didn't take them directly to the caves, they had to walk a small path to the entrance.

Ford explained it was just a safer method. He wasn't too familiar with Rick's portal technology and rather be a little ways away from the caves instead of accidentally using a portal to somehow be inside the rock and suffocate.

"How do you know Rick anyway?" Dipper then asked. He was curious of the odd scientist. He was very eccentric, but in a mad-scientist way instead of a paranoid way like Ford.

"He was actually an apprentice of Dr. Bartek in the past," Ford explained. "After he quit he went off on his own, developed his own technology, and then he went into the multiverse to find some more of Bartek's plans that he had actually stolen from Rick.

"He's an odd character. Rick can be fine… usually. But when he drinks it's almost impossible to even get in a word with him. Rick thinks he's right all the time and more important than everyone else."

"What about the other kid?"

"Morty? I just know that he's Rick's grandson. His daughter, Beth, is actually about a year or so older than Annie."

Dipper felt a little more relieved to have some backstory to Rick and Morty. Now they weren't completely a set of strangers.

 _"Hey, Pine Tree…"_

 _Not now, Bill._

 _"No, seriously, don't you feel that? That odd sensation in the air…? As if we are being watched?"_

Dipper slowed his steps. The hair on the back of his neck rose, and he felt an odd little tingle. Soon, he stopped completely, the sensation of being watched and followed grew stronger.

 _What the hell is this, Bill!?_

 _"It's part of my power. Sensing other presences in the surrounding world. It's helpful to find enemies or pawns. Mostly pawns."_

Ford finally noticed that Dipper was no longer walking beside him. "Dipper?" he called out. "What's wrong -!?" His sentence was cut short when something dark rushed through the bushes and tackled Ford into another set of bushes on the other side of the path.

"Grunkle Ford!" Dipper shouted, his body becoming unfrozen as he rushed to his great uncle's aid.

Ford was on the ground rolling around in the brambles and dirt, his trench coat smearing in mud and filling with tears in the fabric. He was trying to get something off of him, a creature that was about human sized, or more specifically Ford's size. The body was almost like a deep shadow, a color scheme of black and dark gray.

Once Ford stood back up, his coat torn and his face covered in dirt and mud, he gasped and took a large step backwards, causing his back to hit a tree. Dipper got a good look at the sudden creature that had attacked Ford, and it appeared to be…

"Grunkle Stan!?" the young teenager shouted.

What appeared in front him seemed to be a much more demented form of his great uncle. Its entire form was a dark gray, such a dark gray it appeared to be black, almost like a living shadow. However, the demented features was where the uneasiness in Dipper's stomach grew. The shadow creature had dark, blood red eyes that practically glowed, its ears pointed almost devilishly, and the nails were almost like talons.

"Mimics," Ford barely whispered, Dipper had to strain to hear him.

"What!?" Dipper cried out. The creature snapped its head towards Dipper, it taking a few steps towards him.

"Mimics!" Ford repeated loudly. The Mimic snapped its attention back to Ford. "They are dark creatures from an ancient spell. They are basically demons that can take on the forms of people that we know. It can sense those people and take on demented forms to lower our guard."

The sound of rustling leaves and bushes came from behind Dipper. Before he could turn around to try to defend himself he was knocked into the ground, his face grinded into the dirt. Dirt went up his nose and the disgusting taste stained his mouth, an iron taste mixed in.

 _"Come on, Pine Tree! If you have my abilities now, why not, I don't know,_ USE THEM!? _"_

 _Easier said than done!_

But Bill was right, Dipper might as well use them. And Layla was right from before, Dipper can't be scared no more.

A burning sensation filled Dipper's chest and spread across his body. Oddly, it was now a familiar sensation. With all the strength Dipper had he stood up with enough force to throw the Mimic off of his back. With his right sleeve his wiped away the blood that was dripping from his nose and spun around, his hands not covered in blue fire.

The Mimic before him happened to be a demented version of Mabel. Dipper knew the demon before him was not his sister and that he could not hesitate. Without so much as another blink he chucked a blue fireball at the Mimic, it screeched with his twin's voice in great pain and agony before exploding into black dust and being blown away by the wind.

"Dipper…! What the hell are you-!?" Ford's voice was cut off as Dipper spun around and threw another fireball at the Mimic that took the form of Stan. It too screeched in agony and turned to dust, the wind carrying it away deep into the woods.

Dipper stood there, his body burning and his eyes burning. He knew what color they were, not his normal brown but Bill's yellow. Blood continued dripping from his nose and now he felt a thick trickle coming from his eyes. He blinked hard and his eyes stung, and with a wipe of his hand revealed more blood.

Nausea enveloped him.

 _What the hell is this, Bill!?_

 _"Well, you're mortal body isn't used to this. It's a side effect. It'll lessen over time once you're used to it."_

Ford rushed to his great nephew and with a part of his torn trench coat was desperately wiping away the blood from Dipper's face. Dipper stood there without a word, letting Ford just wipe away the blood as if he was a small, incapable child.

After the blood was wiped away the once look of worry and concern disappeared from his eyes and replaced with a deep iciness.

"What the hell was _that_?" Ford angrily asked through clenched teeth.

Dipper didn't want to answer.

" _Mason Christopher Pines._ " Ford sternly said.

 _"Oh, bringing out youre real name, Pine Tree! He is_ pissed _!"_

 _Yeah… I noticed._

Dipper took a deep breath. "Look, it's just something I've been working on. Layla and I did research about it at that library like I had told you about before!" he shouted, his voice sounding harsh. "I've told you what I had to do! You say you trust me but you're treating me like I'm a child when I _know_ what I'm doing!"

"Obviously you do not know!" Ford snapped, him standing rigid. "Did you know that using those powers would cause blood to come out of your orifices?" Him gesturing to Dipper's face.

"Well… no, that's a side effect…"

"Did you _know_ that the more you use those 'powers' that you are giving your soul more over to Bill?!"

"That's not how it-!"

"I don't _care_ what you think how it works!" Ford roared furiously, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "The _point_ is that _you don't know!_ "

"I know more than you know about it!" Dipper screamed back with just as much anger. "Just let me figure this out is all I'm asking!"

Ford gave Dipper such a hard glare, his face a deep red and his brown eyes hard. "Stay. Here." Ford ordered as he continued his way up the trail that lead to the caves.

"WHAT!?" Dipper shouted as he tried to follow him.

Ford clearly had enough and once again screamed, "Mason, just stay here! Don't move! Don't do… don't do anything! Obviously you are in no position to be anywhere near these caves with all of their spells. I'll be back in a few minutes.

All Dipper could do was stand there frozen in shock. He had never seen Ford that angry before, it was almost surreal. Ford had yelled at him about Orion before, but that was more of a parental kind of anger. This anger almost felt like… hatred.

 _Does Grunkle Ford hate me now…?_

 _"Probably."_

 _That does not help, Bill…_

After a moment of pure silence Dipper sat down on the dirt floor. He almost felt like he wanted to cry, but he kept whatever he was feeling in, feeling his face heat up red.

 _"Fordsy doesn't know what spell to get. Most likely he'll just write everything down. But, there is a spell that I have a feeling that you need to have."_

 _What kind of spell?_

 _"That… I don't know. It's just this odd feeling I have that I know you need the spell."_

 _Ford told me to stay here._

 _"Well, you need that spell, so get a move on."_

Dipper then stood up, dusting the dirt off his long coat and pants. If there was a spell that Dipper absolutely needed then he needed to get it. After a moment of thinking of a game plan he took a deep breath.

 _Bill, do you think where Ford had said there was a cave in has the spell you want me to get?_

 _"No, that had Magum's stuff. The spell you need is much deeper."_

 _How deep?_

Bill went silent there.

 _Whatever._

Dipper closed his eyes and cleared his mind, thinking about how he need a spell that was deep inside the caves. Inside his mind it was almost like he was seeing a wall with writing. A sensation went over him, a softer sensation unlike the burning fire of battle. When he opened his eyes a small blue portal was before him. It was the size of a bathroom cabinet mirror, but it was clearly showing a wall with odd writing.

 _"Good job, Pine Tree! That's the spell!"_

Quickly, Dipper fished into his coat and managed to find a paper and pen. He wrote down everything word for word. However, as each word he wrote an uneasiness grew deep inside his gut. After writing down what he needed to he waved a hand and the portal disappeared just in time for Ford to return from the caves.

"We need to head to the center of town with the rest of the group once we figure out which incantation to use," Ford stated. His voice still sounded harsh and it was almost like he barked out the statement.

"Okay," was all Dipper said. It was so soft he wasn't even sure if Ford heard him.

Ford gave no hint that he heard the brunette teenager and started walking down the trail toward where they had emerged from the portal from Rick's gun.

As Dipper followed he couldn't help feeling like something terrible was about to happen.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello everyone! Sorry about the delay! With my new job it's hard to get time to really write! And I've been going to the gym so that takes up some of my time as well. I am going to finish this story, so don't you worry!

How do you guys think this interaction went? I tried to put in some comedic instances and more seriousness, so let me know if I have to continue to work on that!

Thanks for all of the support as always!

~Skye Hendersen~


	21. Update 07262018

Hello everyone, I figured I would do an update since I haven't posted anything in a little bit.

I do plan on finishing the story as it is the last one that I planned for this AU, it's just it has been a little difficult with working and going to school. I had also looked into a publisher and I am currently working on an original story that I wish to be published.

I just wanted to give you guys a little update because I do feel bad from not posting as much, especially since I get so many people commenting and messaging that they can't wait for me to update.

I will finish this story, I promise you!

Thanks for understanding :)

~Skye Hendersen~


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